Here's a list of holy-sounding place names that I threw together. Can you identify the ones that cannot trace their origin to the Bible?
- San Mateo, California
- San Marcos, Texas
- Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
- St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
- Corinth, Mississippi
- Phillipi, West Virginia
- St. Paul, Minnesota
- St. James City, Florida
- St. Peters, Missouri
- San Antonio, Texas
- St. Joseph, Missouri
- St. Marys, Georgia
- St. Louis, Missouri
- St. Charles, Illinois
- Santa Barbara, California
- Santa Monica, California
- San Miguel, California
- San Gabriel, California
- Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
- San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico
- San Francisco, California
- San Clemente, California
- Santa Clara, California
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
- San José, California
- San Leandro, California
- St. Augustine, Florida
- Mount St. Helens, Washington
- Santa Catalina Island, California
- Saint-Tropez, France
- San Isabel, Colorado
- St. Lawrence Ruver, Canada
- Santa Ynez, California
- St. Simons Island, Georgia
- San Diego, California
- Espiritu Santo, Brazil
- Padre Island, Texas
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Santa Cruz, California
- Joshua, Texas
- Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado
- Mont Saint-Michel, France
- St. Petersburg, Florida or Russia (take your pick)
- Saint Martin (island in the West Indies)
- Saint Kitts (island in the West Indies)
- Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec, Canada
- Port St. Lucie, Florida
- St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon (a French Overseas Collectivity near Newfoundland and Labrador)
- Santa Gertrudis (towns in the Mexican states of Coahuila, Chihuahua, Oaxaca, and Vera Cruz; also a breed of cattle)
- San Saba, Texas
- Santa Rosa, California
- Christchurch, New Zealand
What lists have been waiting to spring to your mind?
My mind is full of lists. I have even posted a couple in the past.
ReplyDeleteEmma, maybe I've given you an idea for some more posts?
DeleteSanta Roberto is definitely not in The Bible as this was a den of iniquity in the classical world. I do not wish to be picky but Santa Catalna Island should in fact be Santa Catalina Island.Santa Catalina
ReplyDeletemay refer to Saint Catherine of Palma (1533–1574). She was a Spanish nun canonised in 1930 and like Roberto she does not appear in "The Bible".
Neil, like a good teacher you caught my rare typo in Santa Catalna. I had read that Santa Catalina might refer o Saint Catherine; thank you for the confirmation.
DeleteI'm probably wrong since I tend to skim over the begats, but I don't remember Charles, Louis,Barbara, Monica,Leandro,,Diego,Martin, Kitts, Gertrude,Saba,Isabel, Ynez and Padre.I also agree with YP about Roberto and Catalina.
ReplyDeleteImpressive list.
Kathy, good job and thanks for participating! You found 13 and that is about half of them. I think there are 25 or 26 names in the list that do not appear in the Bible. Padre is simply Spanish for Father. Santa Cruz means holy cross and Santa Fe means holy faith. This might be a surprise: San Diego. Iago or Iego are forms of the name Jacob in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian (you may remember Iago in Shakespeare's Othello), and Jacob in Hebrew became James in Greek. So Santiago, Chile and San Diego, California are both forms of the name St. James.
Deletemy lists are all "to-do"
ReplyDeletekylie, sounds like a cop-out to me.
DeleteI know the Bible has a lot of Saints in it as in your list, but I won't claim to know all of their correct names! My lists are "shopping lists" or like Kylie, "to do lists".
ReplyDeleteBonnie, fully half of the names in my list are not from the Bible.
DeleteTo complicate things I'm more of an Old Testament, New Testament thinker, not a Bible thinker. I would have eliminated all those saints and now I read the comments I see I have some affirmation. At least that's what I think I have...
ReplyDeleteI can add two more names to the list -Saint John, New Brunswick and San Juan Islands off the coast of that well known north west state of the USA whose name entirely escapes me at this moment.
No lists fore today, but when I am home there is always the daily chore list!!
Alphie
Alphie Soup, that well known north west state of the USA is Washington, named after our first president, George Washington. Speaking of the "north west", Mount St. Helens, which iw also in Washington, was named in honor of Lord St.Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver. Apparently if one's first name is George one might get recognized in that part of the world.
DeleteYou didn't complicate things. I suppose I am the one who complicated things. When I said "Bible" I meant specifically the Old Testament and New Testament. I did not include the Apocrypha, but then I'm not Anglican or Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox or...well, you get the point.
Thank you for the additions of San Juan Islands and St. John, New Brunswick. I had those names covered via Puerto Rico and Newfoundland, respectively, and thought one instance of a name was enough as far as my list was concerned. Since you included the name Juan (John in Spanish) then surely you must also know that Mateo is Matthew, Marcos is Mark, and Lucas is Luke. Would you have eliminated those names as well? You said you would have eliminated "all those saints".