• stray@pawb.social
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      1 day ago

      Los Angeles is actually a shortening of a much longer name, the specifics of which is unknown. It seems to be poetically named after Mary, some variant of “the city of our lady of angels”. Many places along the west coast were named after religious figures, hence the prevalence of “san” or “santa”.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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      2 days ago

      Angels. As in, like, angels angels. All of 'em.

      It’s short for Our Lady Queen of the Angels, the original name of the settlement. That proved unwieldy, which is why they shortened it to Los Angeles. It was highly original, as it was founded by Catholics from the San Gabriel Mission.