List of place names of Spanish origin in the United States

As a consequence of former Spanish and, later, Mexican sovereignty over lands that are now part of the United States, there are many places in the country, mostly in the southwest, with names of Spanish origin. Florida and Louisiana also were at times under Spanish control. There are also several places in the United States with Spanish names as a result to other factors. Some of these names preserved ancient writing.

Authenticity and origin

Not all Spanish place name etymologies in the United States originate from the Spanish colonial period or from the Spanish language. Spanish-sounding place names are classified into four categories:

  • Colonial: Spanish names that were given during the Spanish colonial period, or adaptations of names originally given in the colonial period to the same place or to nearby related places. (Ex: Los Angeles, California)
  • Post-colonial: Spanish place names that have no history of being used during the colonial period for the place in question or for nearby related places. (Ex: Lake Buena Vista, Florida, named in 1969 after a street in Burbank, California)
  • Non-Spanish: Place names originating from non-Spaniards or in non-historically Spanish areas. (Ex: Salamanca, New York, or Toledo, Ohio)
  • Faux: Fabricated Spanish place names, typically by non-Spanish speakers. (Ex: Sierra Vista, Arizona)

States

  • Arizona (potentially from a Spanish word of Basque origin meaning "The Good Oak")
  • California (from the name of a fictional island country in Las sergas de Esplandián, a popular Spanish chivalric romance by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo)
  • Colorado (meaning "Red [colored]" or "Ruddy". Named after Colorado City; now called Old Colorado City.)
  • Florida Meaning ""Flowery" or "Florid", because it was discovered by Ponce de León on Easter Sunday, called Pascua Florida to distinguish this holiday, which occurs in springtime when flowers are abundant, from other Christian holidays called Pascua in Spanish, such as Christmas and Epiphany.
  • Montana from Latinized Spanish meaning "mountainous", also in Spanish "montaña" is the name of "mountain"
  • Nevada comes from the Spanish Sierra Nevada (which is also a mountain range in Spain), meaning snow-covered mountain range ("Nevada" is the Spanish feminine form of "covered in snow").
  • New Mexico (Calqued from Nuevo México)
  • Texas (based on the Caddo word teshas, meaning "friends" or "allies", which was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas). The letter x had a "sh" sound in 16th-century Spanish which gradually evolved to an "h" sound, which under later spelling reforms was assigned to the letter j (which originally also had a "zh", "j" or "y" sound). Thus the modern Spanish spelling Tejas, which sounds like "Tehas".
  • Utah (Spanish word of Nahuatl origin, first used by friar Gerónimo Salmerón as Yuta or Uta in Spanish[1])

Territories

Counties and parishes

This is not an exhaustive list.

County seats

Populated cities

Cities

This is not an exhaustive list.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

Y

Z

Native American Reservations

Census-designated places and unincorporated communities

Districts and boroughs

Neighborhoods

Towns and Townships

Villages

Former settlements

Historic places (still standing)

Forts

Missions

Presidios

Ranchos and Spanish lands

Islands

Natural places

Bays and inlets

Forest

Mountains, hills, rock, ranges, caves and volcanos

Regions

This is not an exhaustive list.

Rivers and Lakes

Springs and waterfalls

Valleys

Wilderness, deserts and dunes

Wildlife Refuges and protected areas

Parks

Peninsulas

Institutions, buildings and streets

Estates, houses and buildings

Streets and roads

This is not an exhaustive list.

Railroads and Metro station

Airports

Churches

Theatres

Schools and Academies

Organizations

Others

See also

References

  1. ↑ What is a Ute?
  2. ↑ Native American placenames of the ... - William Bright - Google Libros. Books.google.es. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
  3. ↑ Walter Romig, Michigan Place Names, p. 86
  4. ↑ Walter Romig, Michigan Place Names, p. 187
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