Many big cities in the western state of California have Spanish names . These include Los Angeles , San Diego , and San Francisco .

One reason is because they were named by Spanish explorers . However , there are other reasons also .

San Diego was the first Spanish settlement in California . Spanish soldiers built a fort there in 1769 . The settlement was named for San Diego de Alcala , a Spanish saint , or holy man . Americans have called San Diego the birthplace of California .

As the Spanish soldiers moved up the coast , they found other places that would made good settlements . One of these is ” Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula .” In English it means ” Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula . “

Porciuncula was a Roman Catholic church in Italy linked with Saint Francis of Assisi . He was the founder of the Franciscan Order of religious workers and priests . Franciscan Priest Juan Crespi gave the area that name . Today it has a much shorter name : Los Angeles or just ” L.A.”

Another city with a Spanish name is San Francisco . The first explorer to give the area that name was , in fact , not Spanish but Portuguese . In 1595 , Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno named part of the California coast ” Puerto de San Francisco . ” Or , Port of Saint Francis . Later , the Spanish discovered the great harbor where the city of San Francisco was later built . A small settlement near the present city was called Pueblo de San Francisco .

After the war between Mexico and the United States in 1846 , Americans called the growing city San Francisco . A small island in the harbor was given the old Spanish name , Yerba Buena .