# Does California mean anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-california-mean-anything/222111 "2004-01-01T13:24:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-california-mean-anything/222111/1 "2004-01-01T13:24:59Z")
Does the name California have a meaning or is it just a bunch of syllables someone found attractive? My knowledge of Spanish leads me to believe that it could possible mean something like “hot oven”, but that is a)too funny to be correct and b)too funny for me not to have heard it yet. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-california-mean-anything/222111/2 "2004-01-01T13:44:21Z")
IMS the name California referred to a mythical island of beauty and sweet repose. Kinda’ like Elysian Fields. It is Spanish in origin. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-california-mean-anything/222111/3 "2004-01-01T14:38:29Z")
It has been supposed that California derives from Spanish “caliente forne,” hot oven. But this is garbage. It comes from a 16th century Spanish novel entitled “Las Sergas de Esplandian” by a Spaniard named Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo. The story is set in a fictitious country named California where an amazon-like people lives under the rule of a queen Calafia. It’s not entirely clear where the author got the name “California” from; probably he was thinking of the caliphs. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-california-mean-anything/222111/4 "2004-01-01T18:47:33Z")
[This,](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html) [this,](http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nl/9408/0139.html) and [this](http://members.aol.com/Daan96/States.html) list the origins of the state names. It’s odd that in some cases we really don’t know where the name came from, e.g. Oregon and Rhode Island. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-california-mean-anything/222111/5 "2004-01-01T19:20:36Z")
> [@](#): > > In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano was the first European to explore Rhode Island. He said that the land reminded him of the Isle of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea, and this statement led to the actual name of the state today. [From the official website of the state of RI](http://www.state.ri.us/kids_page/fun_facts/ri_fun_facts.htm) Haj ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-california-mean-anything/222111/6 "2004-01-01T21:15:07Z")
From the Interntet: Read more here: [http://geogdata.csun.edu/geogcourses/Califia.html](http://geogdata.csun.edu/geogcourses/Califia.html) > [@](#): > > ORIGIN OF THE NAME CALIFORNIA > > The origin of the name “California” is a mystery that may never be solved. The precisedate and circumstances surrounding the application of the name to some partof what is now called “Baja California” (or Lower California) is not known. The historian Antonio de Herrera in 1601 stated that it was definitely the Great Conquistador Cortes “who placed this name upon it.”