An enlargeable map of the 254 counties of the State of Texas
The following is a list of Texas county seat name etymologies, taken from the Handbook of Texas. A separate list of Texas county name etymologies, covering Texascounties instead of its county seats, is also available.
, a lightning victim and the son of , a president and controlling stockholder in the
Big Lake
Reagan
nearby Big Lake (which is usually dry in most years as it is located in arid West Texas)
Big Spring
Howard
nearby "big spring" in (a popular and often fought for location in arid West Texas; the spring remains active to this day and is now part of a local park)
Boerne
Kendall
Ludwig Boerne, a German author and publicist
Bonham
Fannin
James Butler Bonham, who died at the Alamo (ironically, Fannin County is named for the commander whose help Bonham enlisted to aid at the Alamo)
Captain , who was killed in an 1830 battle with Indians on the site that became the town in the 1840s
Dalhart
Dallam
Its location on the border between Dallam and Hartley counties
Dallas
Dallas
Uncertain: the primary report is that founder John Neely Bryan named it for his "good friend Dallas." This person is variously reported as 1) George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh vice president of the United States; 2) his brother, Alexander Junior, an American commodore; 3) their father, Alexander Senior, United States Secretary of the Treasury around the end of the War of 1812; or 4) some other person named Dallas whose identity is uncertain. Additionally, another report has the town being named Dallas as the result of a town-naming contest in 1842.
La Mota de Falfurrias, the grove of trees where Edward Lasater established a ranch
Farwell
Parmer
John V. Farwell, a Chicago merchant and a principal in the , which built the present Texas State Capitol and owned the gigantic XIT Ranch
Floresville
Wilson
Canary Islands immigrant Don Francisco Flores de Abrego, who established a ranch in the area
Floydada
Floyd
Uncertain: The town was originally named Floyd City but was required to change it to avoid confusion with Floyd in Hunt County. The new name may have been created from garbling an intended "Floydalia" on the telegraph to Washington or by the addition of either donor James Price or his wife Caroline's mother Ada to the existing name.
Fort Davis
Jeff Davis
Fort Davis, which was named for Confederate president Jefferson Davis
Fort Stockton
Pecos
Camp Stockton, which was named in honor of Captain Robert Stockton, a prominent navy officer in the Mexican War
Fort Worth
Tarrant
Fort Worth, which was named for William Jenkins Worth, a general in the Mexican–American War
George Washington West, a rancher who founded the town, paid the railroad to build through it, and paid to build the courthouse after county voters approved moving the county seat
Georgetown
Williamson
George Washington Glasscock, soldier of the Texan Revolution and politician, who donated the land for the site
Captain Thomas W. Gilmer, United States Secretary of the Navy, who was killed along with county namesake Abel Parker Upshur when a new naval gun exploded during a demonstration aboard the USS Princeton on the Potomac.
Glen Rose
Somervell
An inversion of the original Rose Glen, selected by the wife of donor T.C. Jordan as a reminder of her native Scotland
James Richard Hebbron, a local rancher, who donated land for the town's railroad station.
Hemphill
Sabine
John Hemphill, an early Texas judge and legal scholar, and later a United States Senator
Hempstead
Waller
Dr. G.S.B. Hempstead of Portsmouth, Ohio, brother-in-law of town co-founder Dr. Richard Rodgers Peebles
Henderson
Rusk
James Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of Texas
Henrietta
Clay
Uncertain: The law creating Clay County stated the county seat must be named Henrietta. One theory is that Henrietta was intended as the feminized form of county namesake Henry Clay.
Hereford
Deaf Smith
The Hereford cattle brought to the area by early ranchers
Named for the nearby Hondo Creek. Hondo in Spanish means deep.
Houston
Harris
General Sam Houston, commander at the Battle of San Jacinto, and later President of the Republic of Texas and Governor and Senator for the state of Texas
Huntsville
Walker
Postmaster Ephraim Gray's hometown of Huntsville, Alabama
J[]
County Seat
County
Named for
Jacksboro
Jack
Patrick Churchill Jack, attorney and early Texas colonist, and his brother William Houston Jack, both veterans of the Texas Revolution who founded the city and for whom the county is also named
Uncertain. The town was originally platted as Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de la Libertad, "Town of the Most Holy Trinity at Liberty," in reference to its position on the Trinity and the recent success of the Mexican War of Independence. The mostly Anglo settlers quickly renamed it to Liberty, which is variously explained as a simple Anglicization of the Spanish name or as an homage to their hometown of Liberty, Mississippi.
The nearby Llano River, which was named for the surrounding plains
Lockhart
Caldwell
Byrd Lockhart, an assistant surveyor and reportedly the first Anglo to set foot in the county
Longview
Gregg
Supposedly, for the impressive view railroad management could see from the house of , who sold them the land for the town. Possibly ironic, given the town's location in heavily forested East Texas.
Lubbock
Lubbock
Thomas Saltus Lubbock, a former Texas Ranger (some sources have Lubbock's first name as Thompson)
Lufkin
Angelina
, a cotton merchant and Galveston city councilman, who was the son-in-law of Paul Bremond, president of the Houston, East and West Texas Railway which developed the town
James Madison, fourth President of the United States
Marfa
Presidio
Uncertain, though reportedly suggested by the wife of a railroad executive from a character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov, which she was reading at the time
Marlin
Falls
John Marlin, pioneer and father-in-law of town founder
Marshall
Harrison
John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
Fort Mason, whose etymology is uncertain, though it was probably named after either Lt. George T. Mason, killed during the Mexican–American War at Brownsville, Texas, or for Gen. Richard Barnes Mason.
Following a series of failures for the town to select a name not already in use, Rev. John Brice fortuitously noticed a letter in Austin addressed to Memphis, Texas, and marked No such town in Texas
Uncertain, though most likely due to Commissioner Jasper N. Mabray's belief the town lay on or near the 98th meridian west. Surveyor George Erath had previously named Meridian Creek and for such a proximity.
Braunfels, Germany, hometown of German nobleman Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, commissioner general of the Adelsverein Society, whose German immigrants settled the area
John Newton, a veteran of the Revolutionary War under the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion whose exploits were retold (and likely embellished) by Parson Weems
O[]
County Seat
County
Named for
Odessa
Ector
Reportedly named by railroad workers from the Ukraine who ironically named the flat, dry, and treeless town after their very much different hometown
Orange
Orange
Named for Orange County, which was named for an orange grove owned by
Unknown, but most likely for the surrounding South Plains
Plainview
Hale
The unobstructed view of the surrounding South Plains
Port Lavaca
Calhoun
Nearby Lavaca Bay, which was named for the Lavaca River, which is the Spanish translation of the original FrenchRivière de Les Veches, so called because La Salle found so many bison along its shore during his expedition
Post
Garza
Founder C. W. Post, the cereal magnate who attempted to develop the town as a Utopian community
Nearby San Diego Creek, presumably named after Saint Didacus of Alcalá
San Marcos
Hays
Nearby San Marcos River, mistakenly named for original San Marcos (probably either the current Colorado or Navidad), which was discovered on the CatholicFeast of Saint Mark the Evangelist
San Saba
San Saba
Nearby San Saba River, which was discovered on the CatholicFeast of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified
Sarita Kenedy, daughter of ranch owner John Gregory Kenedy, Sr., and granddaughter of
Seminole
Gaines
Nearby Seminole watering holes
Seguin
Guadalupe
Juan Seguín, Tejano soldier in the Texan Revolution
Seymour
Baylor
Uncertain: The most common version is the name was chosen to honor a local cowboy named Seymour Munday, but other versions report that the name was simply chosen by settler J.W. Fullock or that it was selected to honor New York Governor Horatio Seymour.
George T. Wood, the governor of Texas who introduced the bill to establish the county (coincidentally, the city is located in heavily forested East Texas where the timber industry is a major employer)