List of U.S. Place Names of Spanish Origin - Authenticity and Origin

Authenticity and Origin

Not all Spanish place names in the United States originate from the Spanish colonial period, and in fact, not all Spanish-sounding place names in the country are really Spanish. Spanish-sounding place names can be classified into three categories:

• Colonial: Spanish names that were given in the Spanish colonial period, or adaptations of names originally given in the colonial period to the same place or to nearby related places. Example: Los Angeles, California, shortened from the original Spanish name of the settlement, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula.
• 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. Example: Lake Buena Vista, Florida, named in 1969 after a street in Burbank, California.
• Non-colonial: Spanish place names in areas that were never under Spanish control adopted due to other processes. Salamanca, New York, named for a Spaniard connected with the railroad company that built the town, and Toledo, Ohio named after the city in Spain because the Anglo settlers wanted to do so, are prominent examples.
• Fake: place names that look like they're Spanish, but are in fact grammatically incorrect modern inventions given by people who do not speak or understand Spanish, but who wanted a Spanish-sounding name. Example: Sierra Vista, Arizona, named in 1956, with the intended meaning of "mountain view." Idiomatic Spanish names with that meaning would be "Mirasierra" or "Miramonte." This is not to be confused with grammatically incorrect adaptations of colonial names, where a name that was used in the Spanish colonial period is adapted to English without regard for Spanish grammar.
• Non-Spanish in origin:A good example of this is Eldorado, Illinois, where it comes from two Anglo last names being run together.