(BUM puhs) HELL [Lassen N.P.]. This site of boiling mud pots and steam vents was named for Kendall V. Bumpass, a hunter, guide, and prospector of the 1860s.
BURBANK [Los Angeles Co.]. Named in 1887 for Dr. David Burbank, a Los Angeles dentist who was one of the subdividers.
BURIBURI (ber ee BER ee, byoo ree BYOO ree) RIDGE [San Mateo Co.]. The term is from a Costanoan Indian name, perhaps related to purris, “needle.”
BURLINGAME [San Mateo Co.]. Named in 1868 for Anson Burlingame (1822–70), orator and diplomat.
BURNT RANCH [Trinity Co.]. So named because in 1849 Canadian miners burned down an Indian village here.
BUTANO (BYOO tuh noh, BOO tuh noh) CREEK [San Mateo Co.]. It is claimed that butano is what Spanish Californians called a drinking cup made from an animal horn.
BUTTE (BYOOT). A term borrowed from French and used in the western United States for a small isolated elevation. Butte County was named for the Sutter Buttes or Marysville Buttes, which are in what is now Sutter County.
BUTTONWILLOW [Kern Co.]. A California name for the buttonbush, which somewhat resembles a willow; a tree here was used by cowboys as a landmark.
CABAZON (KAB uh zahn) [Riverside Co.]. From Spanish cabezón, “big head,” the name given to a local Cahuilla Indian leader.
CABRILLO (kuh BREE yoh, kuh BRIL oh) NATIONAL MONUMENT [San Diego Co.]. Commemorates Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the Portuguese navigator (in Spanish service) who in 1542 first sailed up the coast of what is now the state of California. He died and was buried in the Channel Islands.
CACHE (KASH) CREEK [Yolo Co.]. The name refers to a “cache” in the sense of a hiding place, from French cacher, “to hide.” The name was given by Hudson’s Bay Company trappers before 1832.
CACHUMA (kuh CHOO muh) LAKE [Santa Barbara Co.]. From an Indian village name that the Spanish spelled Aquitsumu, from Barbareño Chumash aqitsu’m, “sign.”
CAHTO (KAH toh) CREEK [Humboldt Co.]. Named for a tribe and language, also spelled Kato, of the Athabaskan family. The term is from Northern Pomo kha
CAHUENGA (kuh HUNG guh, kuh WENG guh) PASS [Los Angeles Co.]. From the Gabrielino village name kawé’nga, probably meaning “at the mountain.”
CAHUILLA (kuh WEE yuh). The name of an Indian tribe living in Riverside County and of their language, which belongs to the Takic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family. The name also occurs in place names such as Cahuilla Valley and Cahuilla Mountain. Cahuilla is borrowed from a local Spanish term, cahuilla, “unbaptized Indian,” used in Mission days, which is in turn apparently derived from an extinct language of Baja California. The term has sometimes been spelled Coahuilla, by confusion with the state of Coahuila in Mexico. The California place name Coachella [Riverside Co.] may be a variant of this same word.
CAJON (kuh HOHN) PASS [San Bernardino Co.]. From Spanish cajón, “box,” used to describe a box-shaped canyon. The name of El Cajon [San Diego Co.] also contains this term.
CAL -. As an abbreviation of California, the prefix occurs in a number of names, especially near state boundaries. Thus Calneva (kal NEE vuh) [Lassen Co.] is close to Nevada, and Calexico [Imperial Co.] is on the border with Mexico.
CALABASAS (kal uh BAS uhs) [Los Angeles Co.]. From Spanish calabazas, “pumpkins, squashes.” An alternative spelling is found in Calabazas Creek [Santa Clara Co.].
CALABAZAL (kal uh buh ZAHL) CREEK [Santa Barbara Co.]. Apparently Spanish calabazal, “pumpkin patch,” but probably an adaptation of Ineseño Chumash kalawashaq, “turtle shell.”
CALAVERAS (kal uh VAIR uhs) RIVER and COUNTY. From the Spanish word for “skulls,” applied when a number of skeletons were found near the river around 1837. This Gold Rush area was made famous by Mark Twain’s story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”
CALEXICO (kuh LEK suh koh) [Imperial Co.]. A hybrid name, coined in 1901 from California plus Mexico; its sister city across the Mexican border is called Mexicali.
CALICO HILLS [San Bernardino Co.] and CALICO PEAKS [Death Valley N.P.]. Named for desert rock formations of variegated color.
CALIENTE (kal ee EN tee, kah lee EN tee) CANYON [San Luis Obispo Co.] and RANGE [Kern Co.]. The Spanish word means “hot,” and in these names is short for agua caliente, “hot water,” or ojo caliente, “hot spring.”
CALIFORNIA. The name was applied first to what is now called Baja California, around 1562, and later extended to Alta California, the present state of California. The term originally referred to a mythical land of Amazons, ruled by the beautiful black queen Calafia, as described in a Spanish novel, Las sergas de Esplandián (The exploits of Esplandian), by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The term occurs in such modern names as California City [Kern Co.], California Heights [Los Angeles Co.], and California Hot Springs [Tulare Co.]. The Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, is in Mexican waters, between the states of Baja California and Sonora. The term Californio refers to the Spanish American inhabitants of California during the Spanish and Mexican regimes.
CALIPATRIA (kal uh PAY tree uh) [Imperial Co.]. Coined in 1914 from California plus the Latin word patria, “fatherland.”
CALISTOGA (kal uh STOH guh) [Napa Co.]. In 1859 Sam Brannan, the developer of the area, supposedly meant to say, “I’ll make this place the Saratoga of California,” referring to the resort city in New York State; but instead it came out “the Calistoga of Sarafornia.”
CALLEGUAS (kah YAY guhs) CREEK [Ventura Co.]. From Ventureño Chumash kayïwïsh, “the head.”
CALPELLA (kal PEL uh) [Mendocino Co.]. Named after Kalpela, chief of a Pomo Indian village. The name comes from Northern Pomo khál phíila, “carrying mussels down.”
CALPINE [Sierra Co.]. Abbreviated from McAlpine, perhaps a family name.
CAMANCHE (kuh MAN chee) RESERVOIR [Calaveras Co.]. The original town site here was named in 1849 for a place in Iowa, referring to the Comanche Indian tribe of the southern Great Plains; the term is from Ute kïmánci, “enemy, foreigner.”
CAMARILLO (kam uh RIL oh, kam uh REE yoh) [Ventura Co.]. Named for the ranch owner Juan Camarillo.
CAMBRIA (KAM bree uh, KAYM bree uh) [San Luis Obispo Co.].
