Many towns, rivers, mountain ranges, historic roads and trails and other geographical features in the United States, especially in the Southwest, have Spanish names. This page offers the translations into English of a few of these. Where a Spanish word has multiple meanings in English I have only included that which seems most likely to apply to a place name. 
This list is only a small selection and is naturally very far from being complete. A complete list would of course be enormous. However, I would greatly welcome any suggestions for additional entries (you can EMail me using the link at the bottom of this page). 
Many other place names in the USA and Canada come from Native American cultures or from other nationalities of immigrants such as British, French, Dutch, German and Russian. 
G. Martinez of Montrose, California emailed me to point out that "New World" (North, Central, and South American) Spanish is different from European Spanish, especially the official Castilian of Spain, in terms of speech, spelling and grammar, in the same way as American English differs considerably from its British counterpart. 
Spanish	English	Comments
Alameda	Poplar grove	 
Alamo	Poplar (the tree)	 
Alamogordo	Fat cottonwood	Alamogordo, New Mexico was named for the cottonwood trees in the area.
Alcatraz	From alcatraces (pelican)	Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was originally named Isla de los Alcatraces (Isle of the Pelicans) after the large pelican population there.
Alta, Alto	High, tall	 
Amarillo	Yellow	Amarillo, Texas was named after the colour of the clay banks of a nearby stream.
Amistad	Friendship	 
Angeles	Angels	 
Animas	Soul or spirit	 
Antonio	Anthony	 
Baja	Drop or fall	 
Blanco	White	 
Boca Raton	Rat's mouth	Boca Raton, Florida was named after the nearby jagged rocks on the ocean shore, though to resemble a rat's mouth.
Bonita	Pretty	 
Brea	Tar	 
Buena	Good	 
Buena Vista	Good view	 
Cabo	Cape	 
Cajon	Box, chest or drawer	Possibly referring to a box canyon. Not to be confused with Cajun.
Caliente	Hot	 
California	 -	The name California was first given to the Baja California peninsula by the Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes in the early sixteenth century and was later applied to more northern areas. The word was derived from the name of an imaginary island in a popular Spanish romance of the time.
Cañada	Dell, a small isolated valley	My thanks to G. Martinez of Montrose, California for this translation. With a tilde (~) over the n, Cañada is a Spanish word. The name of the country of Canada, without a tilde, is not Spanish - it comes from the Iroquioan Indian word "kanata" meaning "village" or "community".
Canaveral	Reeds, or a sugar-cane plantation	Spanish spelling is cañaveral.
Carlos	Charles	 
Camino	Road	 
Casa	House	 
Cerrito	Little hill	 
Chico	Little stream	 
Chino	Chinese	 
Christo	Christ	 
Ciudad	City, town	 
Colorado	Red coloured	 
Costa Mesa	Coastal plateau	 
Cruces	Crosses	The name of Las Cruces, New Mexico refers to the graves of a group of travellers who were massacred by Apache Indians in the area in 1830.
Cruz	Cross	 
Ciudad	City or town	 
D', De, Del	Of	 
Duro	Hard	From the common root of "durable", presumably
Durango	Water town	From the Basque word "urango". (I realise that the Basque language is totally separate from Spanish, but this entry seemed worth including here.)
El	The	 
El Camino Alto	The High Road	As in the High Road To Taos, New Mexico. There may be other examples.
El Camino Del Rio	The River Road	As in the road alongside the Rio Grande between Lajitas and Presidio, Texas - west of Big Bend National Park. There may be other examples.
El Camino Real	The Royal Road or The King's Highway	See separate article.
Escondido	Hidden	Probably referring to a hidden valley.
Estados Unidos	United States	 
Este	East	 
Fe	Faith	 
Florida	Flowery	The state of Florida was named by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon from the Spanish word for "flowery", possibly due to the vegetation or because he visited Florida in Easter week which in Spanish is called "Pascua florida".
Fresno	Ash tree	Fresno, California was named after the white ash trees in the area.
Gatos	Cats	Los Gatos, California was named after the wildcats that were once populous in the area.
Gordo	Fat	 
Grande	Large, tall, great, grand	 
Habra	Opening	La Habra, California is named after a nearby mountain pass (an opening).
Hermosa	Beautiful	 
Isabel	Elizabeth	 
Juan	John	 
Junta	Meeting	 
La	The	 
Las	The	 
Las Vegas	The Meadows	The name of Las Vegas, Nevada refers to grassland seen along spring-fed desert streams by early Spanish explorers of the area.
Llano	Plain	 
Llano Estacado	Staked Plain	 
Lobo	Wolf	 
Los	The	 
Los Angeles	The Angels	 
Madre	Mother	 
Manteca	See comment	"Rebecca" sent me this comment: 
I'm a Mantecan (Manteca, California).
The "snootier" Manteca residents will tell you our town was named from mantequilla (butter) as a result of the Portugese dairy trade that was prevalent in this area.
Long-time Mantecans, however, will tell you the truth: "manteca" means "lard". This was a pig farming town in addition to a dairy town, and yes, it was named LARD! So attractive of a name, yes?
Marcos	Mark	 
Maria	Mary	 
Merced	Mercy	 
Mesa	Table, table-land, flat-topped hill	 
Miguel	Michael	 
Milpitas	Little cornfields	 
Mirada	View	La Mirada, California is named for the panoramic view from the hills where it is situated.
Miramar	Look at the sea	 
Modesto	Modest	The name of Modesto, California is a tribute to William C. Ralston, a prominent California financier who declined an offer to have the town named after him.
Montana	Mountain	 
Monticello	Hill or small mountain	Monticello is the name of the house built by Thomas Jefferson in Virginia. It is also the name of various towns in the USA. The word is Italian, not Spanish.
Negro	Black	 
Nevada	Snow, snowfall, snow-covered	 
Nogales	Walnut trees	 
Norte	North	 
Nuevo	New	 
Obispo	Bishop	As in San Luis Obispo, California
Oro	Gold	 
Pais	Country	 
Palo	Stick, pole, tree	Palo Alto, California (high tree) is named after an ancient redwood tree at its northern entrance. 
Palo Duro Canyon, Texas (hard tree) is named for the cedar trees in the area. 
Palomar	Dovecot	 
Paso	Mountain pass	 
Placer	Sandbank (?)	The prefix Placer in town names such as Placerville comes from the word meaning a superficial deposit from which gold or some other mineral can be washed - an indication that such activity took place in the area. My English dictionary says that placer is the Spanish word for sandbank and also suggests a possible connection with the Spanish word plaza, meaning place. However, my Spanish - English dictionary quotes the meaning of placer as pleasure, and plaza as square, market, job or position.
Plano	Flat	My thanks to Karen Strand for this translation.
Plata	Silver	 
Presidio	Fort or Fortress	Many presidios were built by the Spanish when they ruled the southwest of the USA and Mexico. Some of these have been preserved, for example the Presidios of Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Francisco.
Pueblo	Town, village	 
Puente	Bridge	 
Puerto	Port	 
Punta	Point	 
Quinta	Country house	 
Rancho	Ranch or farm	In traditional Spanish the word rancho means dining-room, according to my Spanish-English dictionary. In Latin American Spanish it means a ranch or farm.
Real	Royal	Pronounced "ray-al"
Redondo	Round	Redondo Beach, California derived its name from the way its streets were originally laid out, in a semi-circle.
Rio	River	 
Rosa	Rose	 
Salida	Exit	 
Salinas	Salt marshes	Salinas, California derives its name from the numerous salt marshes along the Salinas River.
San	Saint	Many places were named by Spanish explorers after saints because the explorers discovered them or founded a mission or town there on the relevant saint's day.
San Antonio	Saint Anthony	 
San Carlos	Saint Charles	 
San Diego	Saint Didacus	 
San Francisco	Saint Francis	Is it just a coincidence that Sir Francis Drake explored this area?
San Jose	Saint Joseph	 
San Juan	Saint John	 
San Leandro	Saint Leander	 
San Marcos	Saint Mark	 
San Mateo	Saint Matthew? (I'm guessing here)	 
Sangre	Blood	 
Sangre de Christo	Blood of Christ	As in the Sangre de Christo Mountains in Colorado.
Santa	Saint	 
Sausalito	 -	Derived from the Spanish for "little willow".
Sierra	Mountain Range	 
Socorro	Help, aid, assistance	 
Sur	South	 
Tejon	Badger	Not to be confused with Teton.
Tiburon	Shark	 
Tierrasanta	Saintly land, or holy ground	A neighbourhood of San Diego, California.
Tonto	Stupid	 
Vaca	Cow, beef	 
Valle	Valley	 
Vallecito	Small valley	 
Vegas	Meadows	There is a shopping mall in Las Vegas, Nevada, called The Meadows
Ventura	Happiness, luck	 
Verde	Green	 
Vista	View	 
San Diego
San Clemente
Santa Ana
San Bernardino
Los Angeles
Ventura
Santa Barbara
Santa Catalina
San Luis Obispo
Santa Maria
Paso Robles
Monterrey
Palo Alto
Santa Cruz
Merced
Modesto
Sacramento
Salinas
San Jose
Santa Clara
San Rafael
Santa Rosa
Sacramento
Madera
San Francisco
Las Vegas
Nevada
Colorado
La Puente
El Monte
Los Gatos
Los Banos
Dos Palos
San Andreas
El Paso
La Canada
Palos Verdes
Encinitas
El Centro
San Joaquin
San Antonio
Las Cruces
Los Alamos
Amarillo
El Camino Real
San Bruno
El Cerrito
San Pablo
Corte Madera
Mission Viejo
La Jolla
El Monte
Santa Monica
San Fernando
San Juan Capistrano
San Onofre
La Quinta
San Ramon
Rio Linda
Santa Fe
Rio Grande


