The following is a list of Texas county seat name etymologies, taken from the Handbook of Texas . A separate list of Texas county name etymologies, covering Texas counties instead of its county seats, is also available.
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Abilene | Taylor | Abilene, Kansas, a famous cowtown |
Albany | Shackelford | Albany, Georgia, the former home of an early settler |
Alice | Jim Wells | Alice Gertrudis King Kleberg, the daughter of Richard King and wife of Robert Justus Kleberg III of the King Ranch |
Alpine | Brewster | its location in mountainous West Texas |
Amarillo | Potter | nearby Amarillo Lake and Amarillo Creek, in turn probably named for the yellow soil along their banks and shores (Amarillo is the Spanish word for yellow ) |
Anahuac | Chambers | the Anahuac region of Mexico, the ancient capital of the Aztecs |
Anderson | Grimes | Kenneth Lewis Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas |
Andrews | Andrews | Richard Andrews, the first Texan soldier to die in the Texas Revolution |
Angleton | Brazoria | the wife of George W. Angle, a railroad official who had been prominent in making Velasco, Texas a deep-water port |
Anson | Jones | Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas |
Archer City | Archer | Branch Tanner Archer, a commissioner for the Republic of Texas |
Aspermont | Stonewall | the Latin word for rough mountain |
Athens | Henderson | Athens, Alabama by one of the early residents who came from there [1] |
Austin | Travis | Stephen F. Austin, who facilitated the Anglo American colonization of Texas and is known as the Father of Texas |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Baird | Callahan | Matthew Baird, former owner of the Baldwin Locomotive Works |
Ballinger | Runnels | William Pitt Ballinger, a Galveston attorney and railroad stockholder |
Bandera | Bandera | Bandera Pass, named in turn for the Spanish word for flag |
Bastrop | Bastrop | Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, an early German settler |
Bay City | Matagorda | its location on Bay Prairie |
Beaumont | Jefferson | Jefferson Beaumont, brother-in-law of founder and Texas hero Henry Millard |
Beeville | Bee | Barnard Elliott Bee, Sr., a secretary of state of the Republic of Texas |
Bellville | Austin | Thomas B. Bell, one of the Old Three Hundred |
Belton | Bell | its location in Bell County |
Benjamin | Knox | Benjamin Bedford, a lightning victim and the son of Hilory H. Bedford, a president and controlling stockholder in the Wichita and Brazos Stock Company |
Big Lake | Reagan | nearby Big Lake (which is usually dry in most years as it is located in arid West Texas) |
Big Spring | Howard | nearby "big spring" in Sulphur Draw (a popular and often fought for location in arid West Texas; the spring remains active to this day and is now part of a local park) |
Boerne | Kendall | Ludwig Boerne, a German author and publicist |
Bonham | Fannin | James Butler Bonham, who died at the Alamo (ironically, Fannin County is named for the commander whose help Bonham enlisted to aid at the Alamo) |
Boston | Bowie | Old Boston, Texas, named for store-owner W. J. Boston |
Brackettville | Kinney | Oscar Bernadotte Brackett, an early merchant in the region |
Brady | McCulloch | Brady Creek, which runs through the town |
Breckenridge | Stephens | John Cabell Breckinridge, the fourteenth vice president of the United States (note the change in spelling) |
Brenham | Washington | Richard Fox Brenham, a soldier in the Texas Revolution who had practiced medicine in the vicinity |
Brownfield | Terry | a prominent ranching family in the area |
Brownsville | Cameron | Fort Brown, named in turn for Major Jacob Brown, who died during an attack on the fort in the Mexican–American War |
Brownwood | Brown | Henry Stevenson Brown, a commander at the Battle of Velasco |
Bryan | Brazos | William Joel Bryan, a nephew of Stephen Fuller Austin who donated land for the town |
Burnet | Burnet | David G. Burnet, president of the Republic of Texas |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Caldwell | Burleson | Mathew Caldwell, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and soldier during the Texas Revolution |
Cameron | Milam | Ewen Cameron, a soldier during the Texas Revolution |
Canadian | Hemphill | Its location on the Canadian River |
Canton | Van Zandt | Old Canton, Texas, in neighboring Smith County |
Canyon | Randall | Nearby Palo Duro Canyon |
Carrizo Springs | Dimmit | The nearby springs |
Carthage | Panola | Carthage, Mississippi |
Center | Shelby | Its location in the center of Shelby County (the town and county, though, are near the Louisiana border in East Texas) |
Centerville | Leon | Its location in the center of Leon County (coincidentally, the town is also located almost midway between Dallas and Houston) |
Channing | Hartley | George Channing Rivers, the paymaster of the railroad when it built through the area |
Childress | Childress | George Campbell Childress, the chairman of the committee which authored the Texas Declaration of Independence |
Clarendon | Donley | Clara Sully Carhart, wife of the founder (& possible homage to the Earls of Clarendon) |
Clarksville | Red River | James Clark, the founder of the town |
Claude | Armstrong | Claude Ayers, the engineer of the first train to travel through the area |
Cleburne | Johnson | Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, a Confederate general in the Civil War |
Coldspring | San Jacinto | The cold springwater found at the location |
Coleman | Coleman | Its location in Coleman County, which was named for Robert M. Coleman, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and soldier at the Battle of San Jacinto. |
Colorado City | Mitchell | Its location on the Colorado River |
Columbus | Colorado | Columbus, Ohio |
Comanche | Comanche | Its location in Comanche County, which was named for the Comanche indians |
Conroe | Montgomery | Isaac Conroe, the first postmaster of the town |
Cooper | Delta | L. W. Cooper, a supporter of the bill creating Delta County |
Corpus Christi | Nueces | Nearby Corpus Christi Bay, discovered by Spanish explorer Alvarez de Pineda on the Catholic Feast of Corpus Christi (Latin: "Body of Christ") |
Corsicana | Navarro | The island of Corsica, birthplace of the parents of José Antonio Navarro, the namesake of Navarro County |
Cotulla | La Salle | Joseph Cotulla, the developer of the town |
Crane | Crane | William Carey Crane, a past president of the Baylor University |
Crockett | Houston | Davy Crockett, former Tennessee member of Congress and defender of the Alamo |
Crosbyton | Crosby | Stephen Crosby, former commissioner of the Texas General Land Office |
Crowell | Foard | George T. Crowell, owner of the townsite |
Crystal City | Zavala | The clear artesian water of the area |
Cuero | DeWitt | Spanish word for "hide" or "leather:" cattle was (and still is) a major component of the local economy |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Daingerfield | Morris | Captain London Daingerfield, who was killed in an 1830 battle with Indians on the site that became the town in the 1840s |
Dalhart | Dallam | Its location on the border between Dallam and Hartley counties |
Dallas | Dallas | Uncertain: the primary report is that founder John Neely Bryan named it for his "good friend Dallas." This person is variously reported as 1) George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh vice president of the United States; 2) his brother, Alexander Junior, an American commodore; 3) their father, Alexander Senior, United States Secretary of the Treasury around the end of the War of 1812; or 4) some other person named Dallas whose identity is uncertain. Additionally, another report has the town being named Dallas as the result of a town-naming contest in 1842. |
Decatur | Wise | Stephen Decatur, a Revolutionary War naval hero |
Del Rio | Val Verde | Its location on the Rio Grande |
Denton | Denton | Methodist preacher and Indian fighter John Bunyan Denton, who was killed in 1841 at the Battle of Village Creek |
Dickens | Dickens | Its location in Dickens County, which was named for a J. Dickens who fought in the Battle of the Alamo |
Dimmitt | Castro | W. C. Dimmitt, a land owner and developer |
Dumas | Moore | Louis Dumas, president of the Panhandle Townsite Company in Sherman |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Eagle Pass | Maverick | A ford called El Paso del Águila from eagles who nested in a grove beside the mouth of the nearby Río Escondido |
Eastland | Eastland | Its location in Eastland County |
Edinburg | Hidalgo | Settler John Young's hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland |
Edna | Jackson | A daughter of Count Joseph Telfener, an Italian entrepreneur who was building a railroad from Richmond, Texas, to Brownsville |
El Paso | El Paso | El Paso del Norte, "The North Pass," the former Spanish name of nearby modern Ciudad Juarez, Mexico |
Eldorado | Schleicher | The mythical city of El Dorado |
Emory | Rains | Rains County, which was named for Emory Rains, an early legislator and surveyor of the area |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Fairfield | Freestone | Unknown. |
Falfurrias | Brooks | La Mota de Falfurrias, the grove of trees where Edward Lasater established a ranch |
Farwell | Parmer | John V. Farwell, a Chicago merchant and a principal in the Capitol Syndicate, which built the present Texas State Capitol and owned the gigantic XIT Ranch |
Floresville | Wilson | Canary Islands immigrant Don Francisco Flores de Abrego, who established a ranch in the area |
Floydada | Floyd | Uncertain: The town was originally named Floyd City but was required to change it to avoid confusion with Floyd in Hunt County. The new name may have been created from garbling an intended "Floydalia" on the telegraph to Washington or by the addition of either donor James Price or his wife Caroline's mother Ada to the existing name. |
Fort Davis | Jeff Davis | Fort Davis, which was named for Confederate president Jefferson Davis |
Fort Stockton | Pecos | Camp Stockton, which was named in honor of Captain Robert Stockton, a prominent navy officer in the Mexican War |
Fort Worth | Tarrant | Fort Worth, which was named for William Jenkins Worth, a general in the Mexican–American War |
Franklin | Robertson | Old Franklin, the prior county seat, which was named for settler Francis Slauter, who had owned the land on which it was located |
Fredericksburg | Gillespie | Prince Frederick of Prussia |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Gail | Borden | Gail Borden, Jr., businessman, publisher, surveyor, and inventor of condensed milk |
Gainesville | Cooke | United States General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, a sympathizer of the Texas Revolution |
Galveston | Galveston | Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish governor of the Louisiana Territory and an ally of the United States during the American Revolution |
Garden City | Glasscock | Old Garden City, which had been intended to be Gardner City after a local store owner but was misnamed due to typographical error |
Gatesville | Coryell | Nearby Fort Gates on the Leon River, which was named after Bvt. MJ. Collinson Reed Gates, a hero of the Mexican War |
George West | Live Oak | George Washington West, a rancher who founded the town, paid the railroad to build through it, and paid to build the courthouse after county voters approved moving the county seat |
Georgetown | Williamson | George Washington Glasscock, soldier of the Texan Revolution and politician, who donated the land for the site |
Giddings | Lee | Uncertain: Most likely railroad official Jabez Deming Giddings, but possibly his brother, the politician Dewitt Clinton Giddings |
Gilmer | Upshur | Captain Thomas W. Gilmer, United States Secretary of the Navy, who was killed along with county namesake Abel Parker Upshur when a new naval gun exploded during a demonstration aboard the USS Princeton on the Potomac. |
Glen Rose | Somervell | An inversion of the original Rose Glen, selected by the wife of donor T.C. Jordan as a reminder of her native Scotland |
Goldthwaite | Mills | Joe G. Goldthwaite, railroad official for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway who auctioned the town lots |
Goliad | Goliad | An anagram of the name of Mexican hero Father Miguel Hidalgo |
Gonzales | Gonzales | Rafael Gonzales, governor of Coahuila y Tejas |
Graham | Young | Gustavus A. and Edwin S. Graham, early settlers in the area |
Granbury | Hood | Hiram B. Granbury, Confederate General |
Greenville | Hunt | Thomas J. Green, a general in the Texas Army in the war for independence from Mexico and, later, a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas |
Groesbeck | Limestone | Abram Groesbeeck, a director of the Houston and Texas Central Railway |
Groveton | Trinity | A grove of blackjack trees situated between the town and the nearby lumber mill |
Guthrie | King | W.H. Guthrie of Kentucky, a major stockholder of the Louisville Land and Cattle Company which owned much of the surrounding area |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Hallettsville | Lavaca | Settler, widow, and donor Margaret L. Hallett |
Hamilton | Hamilton | James Hamilton, Jr., the former governor of South Carolina who gave financial aid to the Republic of Texas |
Haskell | Haskell | Charles Ready Haskell, a soldier killed in the Goliad massacre |
Hebbronville | Jim Hogg | James Richard Hebbron, a local rancher, who donated land for the town's railroad station. |
Hemphill | Sabine | John Hemphill, an early Texas judge and legal scholar, and later a United States senator |
Hempstead | Waller | Dr. G.S.B. Hempstead of Portsmouth, Ohio, brother-in-law of town co-founder Dr. Richard Rodgers Peebles |
Henderson | Rusk | James Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of Texas |
Henrietta | Clay | Uncertain: The law creating Clay County stated the county seat must be named Henrietta. One theory is that Henrietta was intended as the feminized form of county namesake Henry Clay. |
Hereford | Deaf Smith | The Hereford cattle brought to the area by early ranchers |
Hillsboro | Hill | George Washington Hill, Republic of Texas Secretary of War and Marine, surgeon, and early settler of the area |
Hondo | Medina | Named for the nearby Hondo Creek. Hondo in Spanish means deep. |
Houston | Harris | General Sam Houston, commander at the Battle of San Jacinto, and later President of the Republic of Texas and Governor and Senator for the state of Texas |
Huntsville | Walker | Postmaster Ephraim Gray's hometown of Huntsville, Alabama |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Jacksboro | Jack | Patrick Churchill Jack, attorney and early Texas colonist, and his brother William Houston Jack, both veterans of the Texas Revolution who founded the city and for whom the county is also named |
Jasper | Jasper | William Jasper, a Revolutionary War hero |
Jayton | Kent | the Jay family, early ranchers in the area |
Jefferson | Marion | Thomas Jefferson |
Johnson City | Blanco | James Polk Johnson, early settler and the nephew of Lyndon Baines Johnson's grandfather. |
Jourdanton | Atascosa | Jourdan Campbell, owner of a local ranch, who lent his name to the city. |
Junction | Kimble | its location at the confluence of the North and South Llano Rivers |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Karnes City | Karnes | Henry Wax Karnes, a soldier in the Texas Revolution (The "City" was added to avoid confusion with Kerens) |
Kaufman | Kaufman | David Spangler Kaufman, a Jewish state senator and the second Jewish member of the United States House of Representatives |
Kermit | Winkler | Kermit Roosevelt, younger son of President Theodore Roosevelt. Kermit had visited the county to hunt antelope a few months before the town was named. |
Kerrville | Kerr | James Kerr, a Republic of Texas congressman |
Kingsville | Kleberg | Richard King, establisher of the King Ranch |
Kountze | Hardin | Herman and Augustus Kountze, financial backers of the Sabine and East Texas Railroad |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
La Grange | Fayette | The name of the former home of General Lafayette, the Revolutionary War hero for whom Fayette County is named |
Lamesa | Dawson | Selected in place of the grammatically correct La Mesa , so called due to flatness of surrounding region. |
Lampasas | Lampasas | The nearby Lampasas River, which was possibly named for Lampazos, Mexico |
Laredo | Webb | Laredo, Spain |
Leakey | Real | John Leakey, an early settler in the area |
Levelland | Hockley | The level topography of the surrounding South Plains |
Liberty | Liberty | Uncertain. The town was originally platted as Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de la Libertad, "Town of the Most Holy Trinity at Liberty," in reference to its position on the Trinity and the recent success of the Mexican War of Independence. The mostly Anglo settlers quickly renamed it to Liberty, which is variously explained as a simple Anglicization of the Spanish name or as an homage to their hometown of Liberty, Mississippi. |
Linden | Cass | Uncertain, but reportedly named after the former home of a Tennesseean immigrant |
Lipscomb | Lipscomb | Judge Abner Smith Lipscomb, a Texian Secretary of State |
Littlefield | Lamb | George W. Littlefield, local ranch owner and town founder |
Livingston | Polk | Livingston, Tennessee, hometown of founder Moses L. Choate |
Llano | Llano | The nearby Llano River, which was named for the surrounding plains |
Lockhart | Caldwell | Byrd Lockhart, an assistant surveyor and reportedly the first Anglo to set foot in the county |
Longview | Gregg | Supposedly, for the impressive view railroad management could see from the house of Ossamus Hitch Methvin, Sr., who sold them the land for the town. Possibly ironic, given the town's location in heavily forested East Texas. |
Lubbock | Lubbock | Thomas Saltus Lubbock, a former Texas Ranger (some sources have Lubbock's first name as Thompson) |
Lufkin | Angelina | Abraham P. Lufkin, a cotton merchant and Galveston city councilman, who was the son-in-law of Paul Bremond, president of the Houston, East and West Texas Railway which developed the town |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Madisonville | Madison | James Madison, fourth President of the United States |
Marfa | Presidio | Uncertain, though reportedly suggested by the wife of a railroad executive from a character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov , which she was reading at the time |
Marlin | Falls | John Marlin, pioneer and father-in-law of town founder Samuel A. Blain |
Marshall | Harrison | John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court |
Mason | Mason | Fort Mason, whose etymology is uncertain, though it was probably named after either Lt. George T. Mason, killed during the Mexican–American War at Brownsville, Texas, or for Gen. Richard Barnes Mason. |
Matador | Motley | The Matador Ranch, which was located in the county |
McKinney | Collin | Collin McKinney, one of five drafters and the oldest signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and early settler in the county |
Memphis | Hall | Following a series of failures for the town to select a name not already in use, Rev. John Brice fortuitously noticed a letter in Austin addressed to Memphis, Texas, and marked No such town in Texas |
Menard | Menard | Michel Branamour Menard, the founder of Galveston, Texas |
Mentone | Loving | Old Mentone, which was named for Menton, France, the hometown of one of its early settlers |
Meridian | Bosque | Uncertain, though most likely due to Commissioner Jasper N. Mabray's belief the town lay on or near the 98th meridian west. Surveyor George Erath had previously named Meridian Creek and Meridian Knobs for such a proximity. |
Mertzon | Irion | M. L. Mertz, a director of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway |
Miami | Roberts | Uncertain: Reportedly an Indian word meaning "sweetheart," but could also be named for rivers or other cities named after the Miami Indians |
Midland | Midland | Its location midway between Fort Worth and El Paso on the Texas and Pacific Railway |
Monahans | Ward | Thomas John Monahan, who dug the first water well between the Pecos River and Big Spring in 1881 and selected the site for a water tank |
Montague | Montague | Daniel Montague, a state senator and early surveyor |
Morton | Cochran | Morton Smith, a land agent hired to sell the property after the death of the original landowner |
Mount Pleasant | Titus | A nearby Caddo burial site known as "Pleasant Mound" |
Mount Vernon | Franklin | Mount Vernon, George Washington's homestead |
Muleshoe | Bailey | The nearby Muleshoe Ranch |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Nacogdoches | Nacogdoches | The Nacogdoche Indians |
New Braunfels | Comal | Braunfels, Germany, hometown of German nobleman Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, commissioner general of the Adelsverein Society, whose German immigrants settled the area |
Newton | Newton | John Newton, a veteran of the Revolutionary War under the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion whose exploits were retold (and likely embellished) by Parson Weems |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Odessa | Ector | Reportedly named by railroad workers from Ukraine who ironically named the flat, dry, and treeless town after their very much different hometown |
Orange | Orange | Named for Orange County, which was named for an orange grove owned by George Patillo |
Ozona | Crockett | The quantity of ozone in the local air |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Paducah | Cottle | Paducah, Kentucky, the home of an early settler |
Panhandle | Carson | Its location in the Texas Panhandle |
Paint Rock | Concho | Native American pictographs discovered nearby |
Palo Pinto | Palo Pinto | Palo Pinto County |
Palestine | Anderson | Palestine, Illinois, the home of an early settler |
Pampa | Gray | The Argentine pampas, which George Tyng, manager of the local White Deer Land Company, stated the area resembled |
Paris | Lamar | Paris, France |
Pearsall | Frio | Thomas W. Pearsall, vice president of the railroad |
Pecos | Reeves | Nearby Pecos River, which was named for the Pecos Pueblo, which is of unknown etymology |
Perryton | Ochiltree | George M. Perry, an early county judge |
Pittsburg | Camp | Major William H. Pitts, who settled the tract of land which eventually became the town |
Plains | Yoakum | Unknown, but most likely for the surrounding South Plains |
Plainview | Hale | The unobstructed view of the surrounding South Plains |
Port Lavaca | Calhoun | Nearby Lavaca Bay, which was named for the Lavaca River, which is the Spanish translation of the original French Rivière de Les Veches, so called because La Salle found so many bison along its shore during his expedition |
Post | Garza | Founder C. W. Post, the cereal magnate who attempted to develop the town as a Utopian community |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Quanah | Hardeman | Quanah Parker, the last Comanche Indian chief |
Quitman | Wood | Governor John Anthony Quitman of Mississippi, who also served as a soldier in the Mexican War and proposed a filibuster expedition to Cuba |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Rankin | Upton | Frederick Harrison Rankin, one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred settlers |
Raymondville | Willacy | Edward Burleson Raymond, a former foreman of a division of the King Ranch |
Refugio | Refugio | The Spanish mission Nuestra Señora del Refugio, "Our Lady of Refuge," which was moved to the site after failed establishments elsewhere |
Richmond | Fort Bend | Richmond, North Yorkshire, England |
Rio Grande City | Starr | Nearby Rio Grande |
Robert Lee | Coke | Confederate General Robert E. Lee |
Roby | Fisher | M. L. and D. C. Roby, developers from Mississippi |
Rockport | Aransas | The rock ledge underneath its shore along the Gulf of Mexico |
Rocksprings | Edwards | Springs bubbling from nearby rocks |
Rockwall | Rockwall | A stone wall discovered beneath the new town site in 1851 |
Rusk | Cherokee | Thomas Jefferson Rusk, Texan Secretary of War |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
San Angelo | Tom Green | Named San Angela by founder Bartholomew DeWitt after an unknown woman named Angela, possibly a nun sister-in-law or a wife Carolina Angela. Emended to San Angelo after the postal service complained of the ungrammatical construction. |
San Antonio | Bexar | Named for the San Antonio River, discovered on the Catholic Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua |
San Augustine | San Augustine | Uncertain, but most likely for Saint Augustine of Hippo |
San Diego | Duval | Nearby San Diego Creek, presumably named after Saint Didacus of Alcalá |
San Marcos | Hays | Nearby San Marcos River, mistakenly named for original San Marcos (probably either the current Colorado or Navidad), which was discovered on the Catholic Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist |
San Saba | San Saba | Nearby San Saba River, which was discovered on the Catholic Feast of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified |
Sanderson | Terrell | Thomas P. Sanderson, a construction engineer |
Sarita | Kenedy | Sarita Kenedy, daughter of ranch owner John Gregory Kenedy, Sr., and granddaughter of Mifflin Kenedy |
Seminole | Gaines | Nearby Seminole watering holes |
Seguin | Guadalupe | Juan Seguín, Tejano soldier in the Texan Revolution |
Seymour | Baylor | Uncertain: The most common version is the name was chosen to honor a local cowboy named Seymour Munday, but other versions report that the name was simply chosen by settler J.W. Fullock or that it was selected to honor New York Governor Horatio Seymour. |
Sherman | Grayson | General Sidney Sherman, hero of the Texas Revolution and man credited with the battle cry "Remember the Alamo!" |
Sierra Blanca | Hudspeth | Nearby Sierra Blanca Mountain |
Silverton | Briscoe | Named by founder Thomas J. Braidfoot. |
Sinton | San Patricio | A major stock-holder in the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company |
Snyder | Scurry | William Henry Snyder, a merchant and buffalo hunter who operated a trading post in the area |
Sonora | Sutton | Sonora, Mexico, hometown of a family servant of landowner Charles G. Adams |
Spearman | Hansford | Railroad executive Thomas E. Spearman |
Stanton | Martin | Supreme Court Justice Edwin McMasters Stanton |
Stephenville | Erath | Landowner John M. Stephens |
Sterling City | Sterling | W.S. Sterling, an early settler |
Stinnett | Hutchinson | Albert Sidney Stinnett of Amarillo, who helped purchase the right-of-way for the railroad |
Stratford | Sherman | Stratford Hall Plantation, the Virginia boyhood home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee |
Sulphur Springs | Hopkins | Nearby sulphur springs |
Sweetwater | Nolan | Nearby Sweetwater Creek |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Tahoka | Lynn | Unknown. |
Throckmorton | Throckmorton | Throckmorton County, which was named for settler William E. Throckmorton, father of Texas Senator and Governor James W. Throckmorton |
Tilden | McMullen | Samuel J. Tilden, Democratic presidential candidate and victim of the Compromise of 1877 |
Tulia | Swisher | Nearby Tule Creek |
Tyler | Smith | American President John Tyler |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Uvalde | Uvalde | Nearby Cañon de Ugalde, the site of a victory by Spanish governor Juan de Ugalde over the Apache, which was renamed in his honor |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Van Horn | Culberson | Union Army Major Jefferson Van Horne |
Vega | Oldham | The Spanish word for meadow. |
Vernon | Wilbarger | Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington's homestead |
Victoria | Victoria | Mexican hero and president Guadalupe Victoria |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Waco | McLennan | The Waco (Spanish: Hueco) band of the Wichita Indians, who established a village near the modern city |
Waxahachie | Ellis | Nearby Waxahachie Creek, supposedly an Indian name meaning "Buffalo Creek" |
Weatherford | Parker | Jefferson Weatherford, a Texas state senator for Parker County |
Wellington | Collingsworth | The Duke of Wellington (The nearby Rocking Chair Ranch was partially owned by a relative of the Earl of Aberdeen, who had been with the duke at the Battle of Waterloo) |
Wharton | Wharton | John Wharton and his brother William Wharton, two leaders of the Texas Revolution |
Wheeler | Wheeler | Royal Tyler Wheeler, a chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court |
Wichita Falls | Wichita | A series of falls formerly located on the Wichita River, before being destroyed by a flood in 1886 |
Woodville | Tyler | George T. Wood, the governor of Texas who introduced the bill to establish the county (coincidentally, the city is located in heavily forested East Texas where the timber industry is a major employer) |
County Seat | County | Named for |
---|---|---|
Zapata | Zapata | Mexican Colonel Antonio Zapata, a ranch owner and military leader involved in the failed Republic of the Rio Grande |
Washington County is a county in Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,805. Its county seat is Brenham, which is located along U.S. Highway 290, 72 miles northwest of Houston. The county was created in 1835 as a municipality of Mexico and organized as a county in 1837. It is named for George Washington, the first president of the United States.
Val Verde County is a county located on the southern Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population is 47,586. Its county seat is Del Rio. The Del Rio micropolitan statistical area includes all of Val Verde County.
Terrell County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 760, making it the seventh-least populous county in Texas, and the 37th-least populous county in the nation. Its county seat is the census-designated place of Sanderson; no incorporated municipalities are in the county. The county was named for Alexander W. Terrell, a Texas state senator. Terrell County is one of the nine counties in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. It is the setting for Cormac McCarthy's novel No Country for Old Men, and the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the same name.
Taylor County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 143,208. Its county seat is Abilene. The county was created in 1858 and later organized in 1878. It is named for Edward Taylor, George Taylor, and James Taylor, three brothers who died at the Battle of the Alamo.
Sutton County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,372. Its county seat is Sonora. The county was created in 1887 and organized in 1890. Sutton County is named for John S. Sutton, an officer in the Confederate Army.
Reeves County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 14,748. Its county seat and most populous city is Pecos. The county was created in 1883 and organized the next year. It is named for George R. Reeves, a Texas state legislator and colonel in the Confederate Army. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. Reeves County comprises the Pecos micropolitan statistical area.
Real County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,758. The county seat is Leakey. The county is named for Julius Real (1860–1944), a former member of the Texas State Senate. The Alto Frio Baptist Encampment is located in an isolated area of Real County southeast of Leakey.
Reagan County is a county on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,385. The county seat is Big Lake. The county is named after John Henninger Reagan (1818–1905), who was the postmaster general of the Confederate States and also a U.S. senator, U.S. representative, and first chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas.
Hutchinson County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 20,617. Its county seat is Stinnett. The county was created in 1876, but not organized until 1901. It is named for Andrew Hutchinson, an early Texas attorney.
Hays County is a county in the central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its official population had reached 241,067. The county seat is San Marcos. Hays, along with Comal and Kendall Counties, was listed in 2017 as one of the nation's fastest-growing counties with a population of at least 10,000. From 2015 to 2016, Hays County, third on the national list, had nearly 10,000 new residents during the year.
Hansford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 5,285. Its county seat is Spearman. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1889. It is named for John M. Hansford, a Texas state congressman and judge.
Hale County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 32,522. Its county seat is Plainview. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1888. It is named for Lt. John C. Hale, a hero of the Battle of San Jacinto. Hale County comprises the Plainview, Texas micropolitan statistical area.
Falls County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16,968. The county seat is Marlin. It is named for the original 10-foot-tall waterfall on the Brazos River, which existed until the river changed course during a storm in 1866. The present falls is two miles northeast of the original falls, at the Falls on the Brazos Park, a camping site only a few miles out of Marlin on Farm to Market Road 712.
Crockett County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,098. The county seat is Ozona. The county was founded in 1875 and later organized in 1891. It is named in honor of Davy Crockett, the legendary frontiersman who died at the Battle of the Alamo.
Comanche County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 13,594. The county seat is Comanche. The county was founded in 1856 and is named for the Comanche Native American tribe.
Caldwell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 45,883. Its county seat is Lockhart. The county was founded in 1848 and named after Mathew Caldwell, a ranger captain who fought in the Battle of Plum Creek against the Comanches and against Santa Anna's armies during the Texas Revolution. Caldwell was also a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Bailey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in West Texas and its county seat is Muleshoe. As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,904.
Boston is an unincorporated community in, and the county seat of, Bowie County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 200 in 2000. It is part of the Texarkana metropolitan area.
These are lists of North American place name etymologies: