(an uh KAP uh) ISLANDS [Ventura Co.]. The term is from Chumash anyapax, “mirage, illusion,” recorded in 1792 by George Vancouver as both Eneeapah and Enecapa.
ANAHEIM (AN uh hime) [Orange Co.]. Named by German settlers after the Santa Ana River plus German Heim, “home.”
ANAHUAC (AH nuh wahk) SPRING [San Diego Co.]. From the Diegueño place name Iñaja, but confused with Anahuac (ah NAH wahk), a name that the Aztecs gave to their Mexican homeland.
ANGELES (AN juh luhs) NATIONAL FOREST [Los Angeles, San Bernardino Cos.]. So named in 1908, because the larger part of the forest is within Los Angeles County.
ANGEL ISLAND [San Francisco Bay]. A translation of Spanish Isla de los Ángeles, the name given in 1775.
ANGELS CAMP [Calaveras Co.]. Named during the Gold Rush for a miner named George or Henry Angel.
AÑO NUEVO (AN oh noo AY voh, AN yoh NWAY voh) POINT [San Mateo Co.]. From the Spanish for “new year,” so named by Vizcaíno on January 3,1603, because it was the first promontory sighted in the new year.
ANTELOPE VALLEY [Los Angeles Co.]. Named not for a true antelope, but for the pronghorn, which was once abundant in the state.
ANTIOCH (AN tee ahk) [Contra Costa Co.]. From a city in Syria, mentioned in the Bible; the name was selected by residents at a Fourth of July picnic in 1851.
ANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK [San Diego Co.]. Formerly called Anza Desert State Park, it was named for the explorer Juan Bautista de Anza, who crossed the area in 1774. It incorporates the Borrego Desert (from a Spanish word for “sheep”).
APTOS (AP tohs, AHP tohs) [Santa Cruz Co.]. A Spanish rendering, dating from 1791, of a Costanoan Indian village name, aptos, of unknown meaning.
ARBUCKLE [Colusa Co.]. Named in 1875 for the rancher T. R. Arbuckle, who had settled here in 1866.
ARCADIA [Los Angeles Co.]. Named around 1888 for a district in ancient Greece that was considered an ideal of rural simplicity.
ARCATA (ahr KAY tuh) [Humboldt Co.]. The town is in the territory of the Wiyot Indians, but its name is from the language of a neighboring tribe: Yurok oket’oh, “where there is a lagoon”—referring to Humboldt Bay.
ARENA (uh REE nuh), POINT [Mendocino Co.]. From Spanish arena, “sand”; named Barro de Arena, “sand bar,” by the British navigator George Vancouver in 1792.
ARGUELLO (ahr GWEL oh), POINT [Santa Barbara Co.]. Named in 1792 by George Vancouver after José Darío Argüello, then the Spanish commander at Monterey.
ARGUS RANGE [Inyo Co.]. The mining district was named for a giant in Greek mythology who had a hundred eyes.
AROMAS (uh ROH muhs) [Monterey Co.]. Spanish for “odors, aromas,” probably referring to hot sulfur springs.
ARRASTRE (uh RAS truh) CREEK [San Bernardino Co.]. In Mexican Spanish, the term refers to an apparatus used for crushing ore in gold-mining days. It occurs as a place name in several areas, sometimes spelled Arrastra or Arastra.
ARROWHEAD SPRINGS and LAKE [San Bernardino Co.]. Named in 1860 because of an arrowhead-shaped configuration in the earth near the springs.
ARROYO (uh ROY oh). The Spanish word for “creek, watercourse” forms part of many place names. Familiar combinations include Arroyo Seco (SAY koh) [Los Angeles Co.], “dry creek”; and Arroyo Grande (GRAN dee) [San Luis Obispo Co.], “big creek.”
ARROZ (uh ROHZ) [Yolo Co.]. Spanish for “rice,” a major crop of the area. A town in Glenn County is called Riz, the French equivalent.
ARTESIA (ahr TEE zhuh) [Los Angeles Co.]. Named for artesian wells dug here in the 1870s. Artesia is the Latin name for the town of Artois in France, where artesian wells occur.
ARTOIS (AHR toys) [Glenn Co.]. Previously called Germantown, it was renamed Artois during World War I, after the French city, which was the scene of fighting.
ASILOMAR (uh SIL oh mahr, uh SEE loh mahr) [Monterey Co.]. The artificial name, coined from Spanish asilo, “asylum, refuge,” plus mar “sea,” was given by the YWCA to the site in 1913.
ASTI (AS tee) [Sonoma Co.], Named in 1881 after the city in Italy, a wine-producing center.
ASUNCION (uh SUHN see uhn) [San Luis Obispo Co.]. The Spanish word Asunción refers to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary—her bodily transportation to heaven. The name was given in 1776. It has sometimes been confused with the Ascension (Ascensión in Spanish), which refers not to Mary but to Christ.
ATASCADERO (uh tas kuh DAIR oh) [San Luis Obispo Co.]. Spanish for “a place where one gets stuck in the mud,” from atascar, “to mire down”; the name has been used since the 1870s.
ATHERTON [San Mateo Co.]. Named in the 1860s for Faxon D. Atherton, on whose land the town was built. He was the father-in-law of the California novelist Gertrude Atherton.
ATSUGEWI (aht soo GAY wee). The name of an Indian group, also called the Hat Creek tribe, in Shasta and Lassen Counties; their language is related to Achumawi.
AUBURN [Placer Co.]. Named in 1849 by miners from Auburn, New York—which in turn was named for Auburn in England, the “loveliest village of the plain,” made famous by Oliver Goldsmith’s poem “The Deserted Village.”
AVALON (AV uh lahn) [Los Angeles Co.], This town on Santa Catalina Island was named in 1887 for an island in the King Arthur legend, represented as an earthly paradise of the western seas.
AVAWATZ (AV uh wahts) MOUNTAINS [San Bernardino Co.]. From Southern Paiute ávawats, “gypsum.”
AVENAL (AV uh nuhl) [Kings Co.]. From the Spanish for “oat field,” because of wild oats growing in the area; from avena, “oats.” The name of Avenal Creek is recorded from 1891, and the town was named in 1929.
AVI COROTATH (uh VEE kohr uh TAHTH) [San Bernardino Co.]. From Mojave ’avíi, “rock, mountain,” and kwalatáth-, “to be big and round.” It is also called Monument Peak.
AVILA (uh VIL uh, AV uh luh) [San Luis Obispo Co.]. Named for Miguel Ávila, a Spanish soldier who took up land here in 1839.
AVISADERO (uh vee zuh DAIR oh), POINT [San Francisco Co.]. The name for the tip of Hunters Point is from the Spanish for “place of advising or warning,” from avisar, “to warn.”
AZUSA (uh ZOO suh) [Los Angeles Co.]. Represents the name of a Gabrielino Indian village, ashúkshanga,
