Turkey

Turkey is a perplexing word; it means both "A large North American bird..." and "A country of SW Asia and SE Europe..." according to the AHD. Despite the turkey's undeniable connection to America (so great that Benjamin Franklin wished to make it the national bird), the bird does derive it's name from the same place as the country. It was confused with the somewhat similar guinea fowl, which was once believed to have originated in the Turkish lands. In reality the guinea fowl is native to Africa, meaning that not one, but two mistakes were involved in the naming of the bird: it was believed to be an entirely different bird, which was in turn believed to hail from an entirely locale!

The word Turkey has its root in the Old Turkik word "türk," meaning strong. The Turkik tribes who conquered modern-day Turkey (and many other areas) called themselves by this name.