Why do so many cities near California coast begin with San or Santa?

California was part of a large Spanish Colonial settlement in North America that included St. Augustine, Florida and Sante Fe, New Mexico. The San and Santa prefixes for many California cities is remnant of the Spanish Missions and other settlements that spanned the area that is now the state of California. There are thousands of Spanish names of lakes, towns, states, and other geographic features throughout the U.S., especially in Southwestern states such as California.

Jenni (Librarian-To-Be)

De Vos, V. S. (2016). Colonial life in Spanish America. In Academic World Book.