BONITA LAKE [Inyo Co.]. A name given by the California Department of Fish and Game, inspired by the scientific name for the golden trout, Salmo aguabonita, in which the species name is Spanish for “pretty water.”
BONNY DOON (bah nee DOON) [Santa Cruz Co.]. The name apparently comes from a song by Robert Burns, referring to the Doon River in Scotland.
BOONVILLE [Mendocino Co.]. Named in the 1860s for the storekeeper W. W. Boone. The place has become famous for Boontling, a “secret language” invented by the inhabitants. An example of Boonding is Kimmies japin’ broadies to the airtight, “Men are driving cows to the sawmill.”
BORREGO. This Spanish word for “sheep” (fem. borrega) occurs in many place names; in mountain and desert areas, it may refer to the bighorn sheep. Borrego (buh RAY goh) Desert [San Diego Co.] was so named as early as 1883; the area is now part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. An alternative spelling occurs in Borego Mountain [San Diego Co.].
BOUQUET (boh KAY, boh KET) CANYON [Los Angeles Co.]. A misinterpretation of Spanish El Buque, “the ship,” the nickname of a French sailor who settled there.
BRANCIFORTE (bran suh FOR tee) CREEK [Santa Cruz Co.]. The Pueblo de Branciforte was established in 1797, at the site of the present town of Santa Cruz, and named in honor of the viceroy of New Spain, Miguel de la Grúa Talamanco, Marquis of Branciforte. The name is now often pronounced bran chuh FOR tee, as if it were of Italian origin.
BRAWLEY [Imperial Co.]. Originally named Braly in 1902, for the landowner J. H. Braly. However Braly, fearing that the project would fail, asked that his name not be used; so the present spelling was substituted.
BREA (BRAY uh) [Orange Co.]. This Spanish word for “tar, asphaltum,” which oozes naturally from the ground at many places in southern California, also occurs in several other place names, such as the redundantly named La Brea Tar Pits [Los Angeles Co.].
BRENTWOOD [Contra Costa Co.]. Named in 1878 after Brentwood in Essex, England, the ancestral home of the landowner John Marsh. The name is also applied to the Brentwood district in Los Angeles.
BREYFOGLE (BRAY foh guhl) CANYON and BUTTES [Death Valley N.P.]. For Charles C. Breyfogle, a famous prospector of the area. The term breyfogling came to be used to refer to searching for lost mines.
BRIDALVEIL FALL and CREEK [Yosemite N.P.]. Apparently named by a journalist in 1856.
BRIDGEPORT [Mono Co.]. Settled around 1860, and probably named for a Bridgeport in the eastern United States.
BRISBANE [San Mateo Co.]. Named in 1908 for the journalist Arthur Brisbane.
BUCHON (buh SHAHN) POINT [San Luis Obispo Co.], From Spanish buchón, “goiter”; so named in 1769 when the Portolá expedition encountered an Indian village whose chief had a goiter.
BUELLTON [Santa Barbara Co.]. Named in 1916 for Rufus T. Buell, an early settler.
BUENA (BWAY nuh) PARK [Orange Co.]. Founded in 1887 and given its hybrid name (Spanish buena, “good”).
BUENAVENTURA. Represents Spanish buena ventura, “good fortune”—and, as a single word, Bonaventura, the name of an Italian saint called Bonaventure in English. During the early twentieth century, many Anglo explorers applied this name to a mythical river thought to flow through central California. The saint’s name in Spanish, San Buenaventura, was the original name of the city of Ventura.
BUENA VISTA [Monterey Co.]. The Spanish phrase meaning “good view” has been applied here and in many other places, such as Buena Vista Lake [Kern Co.].
BULLY. See Bally
BULLY CHOOP (bul ee CHOOP) MOUNTAIN [Shasta, Trinity Cos.]. Represents Wintu buli č’ uup, “mountain peak.”
BUMPASS (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