Ask Margaret
While some of our Tampa Bay area
locations such as Palmetto, Indian Rocks
Beach, Gulfport, Safety Harbor, Palm
Harbor, Crystal Beach, Tarpon Springs,
Holiday, Mulberry, Lakeland, Frostproof
and Crystal River were given descriptive
names that are fairly easy to decipher, others
received theirs for specific reasons. Some
refer to individuals, while others reflect
the eras of their evolution. Many were
coined by explorers, settlers, developers,
or influential leaders. The Tampa Bay area
has an interesting variety of both places
and their names.
Although the name Hillsboro, or
now Hillsborough County, which was
established in 1830s to the east of Tampa
Bay, sounds like a geographic reference,
it actually refers to Englishman Wills Hill,
the Earl of Hillsborough. Hill did not come
to our area himself, however, his emissary
favorably assessed and officially named it
for him in his honor.
In the 1840s, Hernando County, north
of Pasco County, was named for Spanish
explorer de Soto’s first, rather than last
name. The county was temporarily
renamed Benton for Missouri’s U.S. Sen.
Thomas Hart Benton until he fell out of
favor and the name Hernando prevailed.
Manatee County, which was discovered
by de Soto and was a part of Hillsborough
County until 1855, was named for the sea
cows or manatees that resided in the waters
there. The name manatee, or el manatí in
Spanish, is the equivalent of mermaid,
which early explorers and sailors mistook
the large, docile swimming mammal to be.
Polk County, east of Hillsborough
County, was established in the mid-1800s,
more than a decade after its namesake
James Knox Polk, our country’s eleventh
president, had left office.
Citrus County, which was part of
Hernando County until the late 1800s, was
named for its then thriving fruit groves.
However, following a debilitating freeze
just over a decade later, the trees were
replaced with phosphate mines, which
by Margaret Word Burnside
Can you tell me how
some of the places in
the Tampa Bay area got
their names?
T.J., Belleair
were successful until World War I made
it necessary for them to close.
Pasco County north of Pinellas County
was established in the late 1800s and
named for Samuel Pasco, then-speaker
of the Florida House of Representatives,
who also was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Pinellas County, once a part of
Hillsborough County, became a separate
county in 1912. While there is some
question, its name is derived from La Punta
140 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
de Pinal de Jimenez, meaning Jimenez’s
point of pines, which was the Spaniards’
name for the area’s main peninsula.
Sarasota County, south of Manatee
County, became official in the early 1920s,
and had appeared on maps dating as far
back as 200 years earlier, as Sarasote,
Sara Zota and Sarazota. While its name’s
origin remains a mystery, it is may have
been given by the Spanish explorers to
mean “a place for dancing” in reference
to the Native American ceremonies they
witnessed there. Another romanticized
version of Sarasota’s origin involves a
daughter of Hernando de Soto, supposedly
named Sara de Soto, which may have been
shortened to Sara Sota. As the legend goes,
she and a Native American young leader
fell in love while he was imprisoned by
her people. She got sick and died while
taking care of him when he became ill.
After burying her in the bay, he and his
braves sank their canoes there, so that he
could join her forever.
The towns and cities within the Tampa
Bay area have equally interesting name
derivatives.
Tampa Town, a settlement near the
Army’s Fort Brooke in Hillsborough
County, which was incorporated in the
mid-1800s, became officially known as
Tampa in 1855.
Dunedin in northern Pinellas County
began in the late 1860s as Jonesboro,
named for its general store owner George
Jones. Scotsmen J.O. Douglas and James
Somerville later changed the name to
Dunedin after Dùn Éideann, the old Gaelic
name for Edinburgh, Scotland.
South Pasadena in southern Pinellas
County started out as a portion of an
orange growers’ association. In the late
1800s, the area became known as Pasadena,
which means crown of the valley in the
Chippewa Native American language.
After one year, residents reorganized
the southern portion of the area as South
Pasadena.
Although Odessa, located northwest
If you have any questions about the
people, places or things in the Tampa
Bay area, please send them to
“Ask Margaret” at Tampa Bay Magazine,
2531 Landmark Drive, Suite 101,
Clearwater, Florida 33761.
We regret that not all questions
can be answered.