San Joaquin River - Name

Name

Many different names have been given to the San Joaquin over time, and there were even times when different sections of the river were known by different names. The present name of the river dates back to between 1805 and 1808, when Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga was surveying east from Mission San José in order to find potential mission sites. Moraga happened upon a tributary (it is unknown which one) of the river, and named it for Saint Joachim, husband of Saint Anne and father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. That name was later applied to the entirety of the river, and was in common use by 1810.

In 1826, Jedediah Smith wrote in his journals that an unknown group of Native Americans called the river the Peticutry, a name which is listed as an official variant in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geographic Names Information System. Other names include Rio de San Francisco, by Father Juan Crespí in 1772, and Rio San Juan Bautista, the origin of which is unknown. The Mono language name is typici h huu', "important or great river".