| Onondaga County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2000 census, the population was 458,336. The estimated population for 2004 is 459,805, an increase of 0.3%. The county seat is Syracuse. Onondaga County is part of the Syracuse, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name Onondaga derives from the name of the Native American people who lived here, who called themselves Onoda'gega, sometimes spelled Onontakeka. The word means "People of the Hills." Sometimes the term was Onondagaono ("The People of the Hills"). Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people continue to reside in a separate nation within Onondaga County. |