Music with your meal at Wawasee Lake

[estott]

Apologies for carrying this post O/T, but I've often wondered why "Lake" sometimes precedes, sometimes follows, the name. In some cases, word order seems to make no difference (to my ear, "Lake Oneida" sounds just as "correct" as "Oneida Lake"), but in other cases one or the other, but not both, sounds right (or wrong): Lake Ontario, but not Ontario Lake; Tupper Lake, but not Lake Tupper, Saranac Lake but not Lake Saranac, etc., etc. Any ideas?

I think it's to sound more important or pretentious. When writing about lakes in other countries the "Lake" part comes first (Lac Como, Lake Lucerne, Loch Lomond, Lake Victoria)