California Counties Name Origins

How did California's 58 counties get their names? Some got them from the name of a person influential at the time of the naming, and other names were derived for geographical descriptions or Native American, Mexican, Spanish and other  words with relevant meanings. Here's the low-down on the names of our beloved California counties.

California 58 Counties / Year Established

ALAMEDA COUNTY (1853)

Alameda derived from the word alamo, Spanish for cottonwood or poplar trees, means a "grove of poplar trees."  As early as 1795 the southern portion of the county (La Alameda) and to the stream running through it (Rio de la Alameda) were included.

ALPINE COUNTY (1864)

The English word alpine which describes a connection with, the Alps, lies on the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains,   geographically positioned in alpine forests.

AMADOR COUNTY (1854)

Amador is Spanish for "lover of  objects." Jose Maria Amador, a soldier, rancher and miner, and son of Sergeant Pedro Amador,  established a successful gold mining camp near the present town of Amador. He was born in San Francisco in 1794, to a Spanish soldier who settled in California in 1771.

BUTTE COUNTY (1850)

Its name is derived from the Marysville or Sutter Buttes, which lay within the boundaries when it was created. The word butte is derived from the Teutonic word meaning "a blunt extension or elevation." In the French language, it signifies "a small hill or mound of earth detached from any mountain range."

CALAVERAS COUNTY (1850)

The meaning of the word calaveras is "skulls." This county takes its name from the Calaveras River, which was reportedly so designated by an early explorer when he found, on the banks of the stream, many skulls of Native Americans who had either died of famine or had been killed in tribal conflicts over hunting and fishing grounds.

COLUSA COUNTY (1850)

Derived from the name of an Native American tribe living on the west side of the Sacramento River, Colusa County was named after two Mexican land grants; Coluses (1844) and Colus (1845). The name of the county in the original state legislative act was spelled Colusi, and often in newspapers was spelled Coluse.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (1850)

The Spanish words for "opposite coast" because of its situation on the San Francisco Bay opposite San Francisco to the west. In 1853, Alameda County was formed from territory originally included in Contra Costa County.

DEL NORTE COUNTY (1857)

Del Norte means "the north" in Spanish. Geographically positioned in the extreme northwest corner of the state, Del Norte County was formed from territory previously part of Klamath County. 

EL DORADO COUNTY (February 1850)

El Dorado "the gilded one" in Spanish, appeared at the beginning of the 16th century as a description of a mythical Native American chief covered with gold dust during the performance of religious rites. When James W. Marshall discovered gold at Coloma in January 1848, they called the region El Dorado.

FRESNO COUNTY (April 1856)

Spanish for "ash tree" Fresno Creek and then Fresno County was named because of the abundance of mountain ash or ash trees in the county.

GLENN COUNTY (1891)

Named for Dr. Hugh J. Glenn, the largest wheat farmer in the state during his lifetime, Glenn was recognized in political circles and met commercial success in California. Glenn County was formed from the northern portion of Colusa County.

HUMBOLDT COUNTY (1853)

Humboldt County was named in honor of naturalist and world explorer, Baron Alexander von Humboldt, in 1850 by Douglas Ottinger and Hans Buhne. They entered a bay they named "Humboldt" and the name was adopted for the county's formation.

IMPERIAL COUNTY (1907)

Imperial is defined as relating to an empire. Named for Imperial Land Company's presence in the the southern portion of the Colorado desert, which it reclaimed for agriculture at the turn of the 20th century, Imperial County is California's youngest, newest county.

INYO COUNTY (1866)

Inyo is "dwelling place of the great spirit" from the Native American name for the mountains in its area.

KERN COUNTY (1866)

Named for Edward Kern, topographer of General John C. Fremont's 1845 expedition, Kern County derived its name from the Kern River.

KINGS COUNTY (1893)

Kings River or River of the Holy Kings, "Rio de los Santos Reyes" in Spanish, was the origin of the Kings County name. This information comes from the diary of Padre Munoz who wrote about the Moraga Expedition of 1806, responsible for the naming. Created out of a part of Tulare County, 100 square miles of Fresno County was added in 1908. 

LAKE COUNTY (1861)

The many lakes in the area and prominent Clear Lake gave Lake County its name. The county was mapped from territory formerly included in Napa County. 

LASSEN COUNTY (1864)

Lassen County was named for Peter Lassen, a famous trapper, frontiersman and Native American fighter who was killed under mysterious circumstances (possibly by the Paiutes) in Black Rock Desert in 1859. Lassen County was formed from parts of Plumas and Shasta counties following the two-day  Sagebrush War.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY (1850)

Los angeles translates from Spanish as "the angels," and comes from the original name Pueblo del Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula (the Town of the River of Our Lady, Queen of the Angeles). In 1781, Governor Felipe de Neve ordered the establishment of a pueblo on El Rio Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles. The pueblo became known as the Ciudad de Los Angeles or City of the Angels.

MADERA COUNTY (1893)

Madera County was named after the Spanish word for wood or timber. The California Lumber Company built a flume to carry lumber to the railroad in the county formed from a portion of Fresno County north of the San Joaquin River.  

MARIN COUNTY (1850)

Marin County may have been named for Chief Marin of the local Native American Licatiut tribe which waged a fierce battle against Spanish military explorers. OR Marin County could have been named as an abbreviation of  the bay, Bahia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera, situated between San Pedro and San Quentin points. Marin County's name origins aren't crystal clear.

MARIPOSA COUNTY (February 1850)

Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly. Great clusters of butterflies were likely seen by Spanish explorers in the foothills of the Sierras. In 1807 they named a creek Mariposa, and the name was adopted for the county.

MENDOCINO COUNTY (1850)

Mendocino is an adjective form of the family name of Mendoza. The county derived its name from either Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, 1535-1542 (who sent the Juan Cabrillo Expedition to this coast in 1542), or Lorenzo Suarez de Mendoza, Viceroy from 1580 to 1583.

MERCED COUNTY (1855)

Merced is a Spanish word meaning mercy or favor. Merced County got its name from an 1806  expedition headed by Gabriel Moraga. At the end of a hot dusty ride the group came upon a river and called it Merced (El Rio de Nuestra Senora de la Merced) translated from Spanish as River of Our Lady of Mercy.

MODOC COUNTY (1874)

From an eastern section of Siskiyou county. It derived its name from a fierce Native American tribe that lived at the Pit River headwaters. One historian suggests that the word modoc means "the head of the river." Another states that the word is derived from the Klamath word moatakni meaning "southerners," i.e., the people living south of the Klamath tribe.

MONO COUNTY (1861)

The county is named after Mono Lake, which, in 1852, was named for a Native American tribe that inhabited the Sierra Nevada from north of Mono Lake to Owens Lake. The tribe's western neighbors, the Yokuts, called them monachie, meaning "fly people," because the pupae of a fly was their chief food staple and trading article.

MONTEREY COUNTY (1850)

It derived its name from the Bay of Monterey. The word itself is composed of the Spanish words monte and rey, and literally means "king of the mountain." The bay was named by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602, in honor of the Conde de Monterey, the Viceroy of New Spain.

NAPA COUNTY (1850)

Named after Napa Valley. The word napa is of Native American derivation and has been variously translated as "grizzly bear," "house," "motherland" or "fish." Of the many explanations of the names's origin, the most plausible seems to be that it is derived from the Patwin word napo meaning house.

NEVADA COUNTY (1851)

Named after the mining town of Nevada City, a name derived from the term "Sierra Nevada." The word nevada in Spanish means "snowy" or "snowcovered."

ORANGE COUNTY (1889)

This county was given the name of Orange to sound like a semi-tropical paradise in order to encourage immigration.

PLACER COUNTY (1851)

Placer is probably a contraction of the words plaza de oro (the place of gold) and in Spanish means "a place near a river where gold is found." The county derived its name from the numerous places where the method of extracting gold from the earth, called placer mining, was practiced.

PLUMAS COUNTY (1854)

The Spanish originally called one of the tributaries of the Sacramento River El Rio de las Plumas or the "River of Feathers." In creating this county, the state Legislature gave it the name Plumas because all of the numerous branches of the Feather River have their origins in its mountains.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY (1893)

This county was created from portions of San Diego and San Bernardino counties and derived its name from the City of Riverside, christened when the upper canal of the Santa Ana River reached it in 1871.

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (1850)

The county was named by Captain Moraga after the Sacramento River. The word Sacramento signifies "Sacrament" or "Lord's Supper."

SAN BENITO COUNTY (1874)

Named after San Benito Valley. In his expedition in 1772, Crespi named a small river in honor of San Benidicto (Saint Benedict), the patron saint of the married, and it is from the contraction of this name that the county took its name.

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY (1853)

Saint Bernard is the patron saint of mountain passes. The name Bernardino means "bold as a bear." The Spanish gave the name San Bernardino to the snowcapped peak in southern California, in honor of the saint; from him the county derived its name.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY (1850)

Named after San Diego Bay, which had been rechristened by Vizcaino in 1602, in honor of the Franciscan, San Diego de Alcala de Henares, whose name was borne by his flagship.

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY (1850)

The sixth mission in California was established here by Padre Junipero Serra on October 9, 1776, and was named Mission San Francisco de Asis a la Laguna de los Dolores (Saint Francis of Assisi at the Lagoon of Sorrows). The mission is now known as "Mission Dolores."

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY (1850)

The county takes its name from the San Joaquin River. In the early 1800s Lieutenant Moraga, commanding an expedition in the lower great Central Valley of California, gave the name of San Joaquin (meaning Saint Joachim) to a rivulet that springs from the Sierra Nevada mountains and empties into Buena Vista Lake.

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY (1850)

In 1772, the Mission San Luis Obispo was established here by Padre Junipero Serra and named for Saint Luis, the Bishop of Toulouse. The county's name comes from the mission.

SAN MATEO COUNTY (1856)

The county bears the Spanish name for Saint Matthew. As a place name, St. Matthew appears as early as 1776, and the arroyo, the point and the settlement at the unofficial San Mateo Mission are all so designated on the early maps. Until about 1850, the name appeared as San Matheo.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY (1850)

The Santa Barbara Channel received its name from Sebastian Vizcaino when he sailed over the channel waters in 1602. In 1782, Padre Junipero Serra dedicated a site near the channel for a presidio and on Dec. 4, 1786, he founded the nearby Mission Santa Barbara (Saint Barbara). The county derives its name from the mission.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY (1850)

The county is named after Mission Santa Clara, which was established in 1777, and named for Saint Clara of Assisi, Italy. The name Clara means "clear" or "bright."

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY (1850)

In the original act, the county was given the name of Branciforte after the Spanish pueblo founded there in 1797. Less than two months later, the name was changed to Santa Cruz. Established in 1791 and completed in 1794, the Santa Cruz Mission was destroyed by earthquake in 1857, but a smaller-scale replica was erected in 1931. Santa Cruz signifies "holy cross."

SHASTA COUNTY (1850)

This county was named after Mount Shasta. the name Shasta is derived from the English equivalent for the name of a Native American tribe that once lived in the area. The name of the tribe was spelled in various ways until the present version was used when the county was established.

SIERRA COUNTY (1852)

Sierra nevada in Spanish means "snow saw," applied to the Sierra Nevada mountain chain because of the jagged, serrated, sawtooth peaks forming the skyline.

SISKIYOU COUNTY (1852)

Named after the mountain range. The origin of the word siskiyou is not known. One version is that it is the Chinook word for "bob-tailed horse." Another version, given in an argument before the state Senate in 1852, is that the French name Six Callieux, meaning "six-stone," was given to a ford on the Umpqua River by Michel La Frambeau and a party of Hudson Bay company trappers in 1832, because six large stones or rocks lay in the river where they crossed. Still others attribute the name to a local tribe of Native Americans.

SOLANO COUNTY (1850)

The county derives its name indirectly from that of the Franciscan missionary, Father Francisco Solano, whose name was given in baptism to the chief of one of the Native American tribes of the region. Before receiving the name Solano, the chief was called Sem-yeto, which signifies "brave or fierce hand." At the request of General Mariano Vallejo, the county was named for Chief Solano, who at one time ruled over most of the land and tribes between the Petaluma Creek and the Sacramento River.

SONOMA COUNTY (1850)

Sonoma is a Chocuyen Native American name translated by some as "Valley of the Moon" and by others as "land or tribe of the Chief Nose."

STANISLAUS COUNTY (1854)

The word Stanislaus is a corruption of Estanislao, the baptismal name of a mission-educated renegade chief who led a band of Native Americans in a series of battles against Mexican troops. He was finally defeated by General Mariano G. Vallejo in 1826. The county is named for the Stanislaus River, first discovered by Gabriel Moraga in 1806, and later renamed Rio Estanislao for the chief.

SUTTER COUNTY (1850)

Sutter County was named after General John Augustus Sutter, a native of Switzerland, who obtained a large land grant from the Mexican government and called his first settlement New Helvetia (now the City of Sacramento). In 1841, the general established a great stock ranch in this area to which he retired in 1850 when gold seekers deprived him of most of his holdings at Sacramento.

TEHAMA COUNTY (1856)

The county is named for the City of Tehama. Suggested possible roots are the Arabic word tehama ("hot low-lands"), the Mexican word tejamanil (shingle), or "high water" in the dialect of local Native Americans.

TRINITY COUNTY (1850)

It takes its name from the Trinity River, named in 1845 by Major Pearson B. Reading, who was under the mistaken impression that the stream emptied into Trinidad Bay. Trinity is the English version of Trinidad.

TULARE COUNTY (1852)

While hunting for deserters in 1772, Commandante Fages discovered a great lake surrounded by marshes and filled with rushes which he named Los Tules (the tules). It is from this lake that the county derives its name. The root of the name Tulare is found in the Mexican word tullin, designating cattail or similar reeds.

TUOLUMNE COUNTY (1850)

The name Tuolumne is of Native American origin and has been given different meanings, such as Many Stone Houses, The Land of Mountain Lions and Straight Up Steep, the later an interpretation of William Fuller, a native Chief. In his report to the first state Legislature, Vallejo said that the word is "a corruption of the Native American word talmalamne which signifies "cluster of stone wigwams." The name may mean "people who dwell in stone houses," i.e., in caves.

VENTURA COUNTY (1872)

In 1782 the Mission San Buenaventura was founded as San Buenaventura (now known as Ventura). Buenaventura is composed of two Spanish words, buena meaning "good" and ventura meaning "fortune."

YOLO COUNTY (1850)

In the original act of 1850, the name was spelled "Yola." Yolo is a Native American name variously believed to be a corruption of an tribal name Yo-loy meaning "a place abounding in rushes" or of the name of the chief, Yodo, or of the village of Yodoi.

YUBA COUNTY (1850)

It was named after the Yuba River by Captain John A. Sutter for the Native American village Yubu, Yupu or Juba near the confluence of the Yuba and Feather rivers. Vallejo stated that the river was named Uba by an exploring expedition in 1824 because of the quantities of wild grapes (uvas silvestres in Spanish) which they found growing on its banks.