Los Angeles, City of Angels, or simply L.A., the city is as unique as its name, which openly reflects the Hispanic heritage that shaped its creation and growth. Literally translated into English as “The Angels,” the story behind its name is perhaps one of the most fascinating chapters in the city’s early history.
On September 4, 1781, a group of 44 settlers known as Los Pobladores arrived at a site near the Porciúncula River to establish a new town under orders from the Spanish Crown. These settlers, drawn from what is now Mexico, included people of Indigenous, African, and European ancestry.
The name of the new town, however, is where things get complicated. While Los Angeles is widely believed to have originally been called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of Porciúncula), historians have debated this for decades. One version, supported by a 1785 map gives the name as El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Ángeles (The Town of the Queen of Angels).
Other scholars, argue that the name was directly inherited from the nearby river. In 1769, Franciscan priest Juan Crespí had named that river Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles de la Porciúncula during the feast day of the Virgin Mary. The river’s name, rooted in religious tradition, likely influenced the town’s naming.
In reality, several variations of the name appear in historic documents: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reyna de Los Ángeles, Pueblo del Río de Nuestra Señora la Reyna de Los Ángeles de Porciúncula, and more.
Regardless of what the official name was in 1781, the town’s origins are undeniable: a diverse group of settlers, a river named for a small chapel in Italy, and a legacy that lives on in the multicultural heart of modern Los Angeles.