LA does hold claim to the longest city name in the United States. The full name of Los Angeles as it was founded September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve is: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola). There is some question about the legitimacy of this name, which may have, through a series of misinterpretations and inflations, been corrupted from the actual name authorized in writing in 1781, "La Reina de Los Angeles". Cf. Theodore E. Treutlein, "Los Angeles, California: The Question of the City's Original Spanish Name," Southern California Quarterly 55, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 1-7.
Historian Doyce B. Nunis, Jr., has traced the longer name to the histories written by the Franciscan missionaries, especially Francisco Palóu, who wished to play up the region's connections to their order. Pool, Bob, "City of Angels' First Name Still Bedevils Historians." Los Angeles Times (March 26, 2005), Sec. A-1.
Jan 11 2009, 8:22 PM