# Why isn't St. Augustine, Florida called San Augustine?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472 "2009-11-30T15:29:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472/1 "2009-11-30T15:29:12Z")

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We have San Francisco, San Diego, San Bernardino, etc. in California. I suspect St. Augustine began life as “San”. When and why did it change?

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**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472/2 "2009-11-30T15:35:28Z")

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> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#):
>
> We have San Francisco, San Diego, San Bernardino, etc. in California. I suspect St. Augustine began life as “San”. When and why did it change?

It was called San Augustin, and was likely Anglicized when the British acquired Florida under terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

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**Author:** ![pan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@pan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pan1)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472/3 "2009-11-30T15:38:07Z")

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St Augustine was taken over by the British about 100 years before we took over California. The Brits anglisized the name.  
\<darnit, moto beat me\>

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472/4 "2009-11-30T17:10:01Z")

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Ehr, the Spanish is San Agustín, actually. Florida changed its pronunciation from FlohREEda to FLOHreeda too, by the way.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472/5 "2009-11-30T18:30:19Z")

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Pardon my misspelling.

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472/6 "2009-11-30T21:09:48Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> Ehr, the Spanish is San Agustín, actually. Florida changed its pronunciation from FlohREEda to FLOHreeda too, by the way.

There’s also now the rap star Flo Rida, who I believe pronounces his name as “FloRYda.”

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**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-st-augustine-florida-called-san-augustine/519472/7 "2009-12-01T14:05:54Z")

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> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> There’s also now the rap star Flo Rida, who I believe pronounces his name as “FloRYda.”

I was calling him “Flow RIta” for a while. Just don’t like the “catchy” rap names…