BARSTOW [San Bernardino Co.], Originally called Fishpond, in 1886 it was renamed by the Santa Fe Railroad for its president, William Barstow Strong.
BATEQUITOS (bah tuh KEE tohs) LAGOON [San Diego Co.]. The Spanish name, meaning “little water holes,” was applied by Padre Pedro Font in 1776. It is the plural diminutive form of batequi, a word used in northwestern Mexico to mean “a hole dug in a dry streambed in order to find water.” The origin is Yaqui bate’ekim.
BEALVILLE [Kern Co.]. Named for General Edward F. Beale, who served in the 1860s as U.S. surveyor general of California; however, Abraham Lincoln complained that Beale made himself “monarch of all he surveyed.”
BEAR. The name of this animal occurs in hundreds of California place names, referring either to the grizzly, now extinct in California, or to the black bear (which is sometimes cinnamon colored). Bear River [Humboldt Co.] was so named because Lewis K. Wood of the Gregg party was badly mauled by a wounded grizzly here in 1850. Bear Lake [San Bernardino Co.] was named as early as 1845, but it is now called Baldwin Lake; the present Big Bear Lake is an artificial one created in 1884.
BEAUMONT (BOH mahnt) [Riverside Co.], French for “beautiful mountain”; the name was given in 1887.
BECKWOURTH (BEK werth) PASS [Lassen, Plumas Cos.]. For James Beckwourth (also spelled Beckwith), an African American mountain man, adopted member of the Crow Indian tribe, and trailblazer of the 1840s and 1850s; he came to California in 1844.
BEEGUM PEAK [Tehama Co.]. From a southern U.S. word for “beehive”; bees actually live here, in holes in the rock.
BEL-AIR [Los Angeles Co.]. Named for its developer, Alphonso Bell, in 1923, on the model of French bel air, “fresh air.”
BELL [Los Angeles Co.], Named in 1898 by James George Bell and his son Alphonso, founders of the town. The place also gave its name to the nearby community of Bell Gardens.
BELLFLOWER [Los Angeles Co.]. Named in 1909 after an orchard of bellflower apples (from French belle fleur, “beautiful flower”).
BELMONT [San Mateo Co.]. The name, based on Italian bel monte or French beau mont, “beautiful mountain,” was applied in the 1850s.
BELVEDERE (BEL vuh deer) [Marin Co.]. Italian for “beautiful view”; applied in 1890.
BENICIA (buh NEE shuh) [Solano Co.]. This was one of the given names of the wife of General Mariano Vallejo, applied in 1847.
BEN LOMOND (ben LOH muhnd) MOUNTAIN [Santa Cruz Co.]. Named for the mountain that overlooks Loch Lomond in Scotland; the name is redundant, since ben represents the Scottish word for “mountain.”
BERKELEY [Alameda Co.], Named in 1866, by the trustees of the new university, for the Irish philosopher George Berkeley, who wrote the line “Westward the course of empire takes its way.”
BERROS (BAIR ohs) [San Luis Obispo Co.]. Spanish for “watercress”; nearby Los Berros Creek has been so named since 1850.
BERRYESSA (bair ee YES uh) LAKE [Napa Co.]. For José Jesús and Sisto Berryessa, who took up land here in 1843. Berryessa Creek [Santa Clara Co.] is named for another family with the same surname.
BETTERAVIA (bet uh RAY vee uh) [Santa Barbara Co.], From French betterave, “sugar beet,” referring to the sugar-beet industry here.
BEVERLY HILLS [Los Angeles Co.]. Named in 1907 after Beverly Farms in Massachusetts, a vacation spot of then president William H. Taft.
BIDWELL STATE PARK [Butte Co.]. The park, as well as several other features in various counties, was named for John Bidwell, who in 1841 organized the first overland party of emigrants to California; the settlers trekked for twenty-four weeks and were forced to eat their mules.
BIEBER (BEE ber) [Lassen Co.]. Named in 1879 for Nathan Bieber, who ran a store here; a neighboring settlement was later called Nubieber.
BIG BEAR LAKE [San Bernardino Co.]. This artificial lake, created in 1884, borrowed the name of nearby Bear Lake, now called Baldwin Lake. Big Bear Lake is the name not only of the lake, but of an incorporated city; by contrast, Big Bear City is an unincorporated community.
BIG SUR RIVER [Monterey Co.]. From Spanish Río Grande del Sur, “big river of the south” (i.e., south of Monterey); there is also a Little Sur River.
BISHOP [Inyo Co.]. Named for the cattleman Samuel A. Bishop, who lived here in the 1860s.
BLACKHAWK [Contra Costa Co.]. Named after an American Indian chief who led native tribes of the Midwest against the whites in the early nineteenth century.
BLACK LASSIC PEAK [Trinity Co.], A black promontory named after nearby Mount Lassic, which was named in turn for Lassik, leader of an Athabaskan Indian tribe.
BLANCO (BLANG koh). The Spanish for “white” (fem. blanca); it occurs in many place names, such as Blanco Mountain [Mono Co.]; Pico (PEE koh) Blanco [Monterey Co.], meaning “white peak”; and Piedra (pee AY druh) Blanca [Ventura Co.], “white rock.”
BLUFF. The name is used in California as a generic term for a cliff or bank, as in Red Bluff [Tehama Co.], The stream called Bluff Creek [Humboldt, Del Norte Cos.] was so named in 1851.
BLYTHE [River side Co.], For Thomas H. Blythe, who in 1875 laid the plans for irrigation of the area.
BODEGA (boh DAYguh) [Sonoma Co.]. The bay was first sighted by Europeans in 1775, when the Spanish sea captain Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra arrived here in his ship Sonora; the bay was later named for him.
BODIE (BOH dee) [Mono Co.]. The town was named for Waterman S. Body, who discovered ore deposits here in 1859; it is now a ghost town and historic landmark.
BOHEMOTASH (boh HEE muh tash) MOUNTAIN [Shasta Co.]. From Wintu bohema thoos, “big camp.”
BOLINAS (boh LEE nuhs) [Marin Co.]. First recorded in 1834 as Baulenes, the name of a Coast Miwok Indian band who lived in the area. However, Bolinas Creek [Alameda Co.] is named for Antonio Bolena, of Portugal, who owned land here in the 1870s.
BOLLIBOKKA (bah lee BAH kuh) MOUNTAIN [Shasta Co.]. From Wintu buli, “mountain,” and phaqa, “manzanita.”
BOLLY. See Bally
BOLSA (BOHL suh). The Spanish word for “pocket” is used in a geographical sense—for example, for a place semienclosed by water. It occurs in many combinations, such as Bolsa Chica (CHEE kuh) [Orange Co.], meaning “small pocket”; and Bolsa Knolls [Monterey Co.].
BONITA (boh NEE tuh) [San Diego Co.]. In 1884 Henry E. Cooper named his estate Bonita Ranch, and the name was later applied to the post office. Spanish bonita, “pretty” (feminine), is a diminutive of buena, “good.”
BONITA, POINT [Marin Co.]. The original Spanish was Punta Bonete, “bonnet point,”