LA's Original Name Was 55 Characters Long

Imagine filling out paperwork in 1781 Los Angeles. Every time you wrote your city's name, you'd need to scribble out 'El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula' — that's 55 characters of pure Spanish colonial ambition.

The name translates to "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River." It referenced both the Virgin Mary and a small river in Assisi, Italy, that was sacred to Franciscan missionaries.

A Name That Couldn't Last

Spanish settlers founded the pueblo on September 4, 1781, with just 44 original residents. They probably started abbreviating the name immediately. Who wouldn't?

The full title honored:

• The Virgin Mary (Nuestra Señora)
• Her role as Queen of the Angels
• The Porciúncula River nearby (now the Los Angeles River)
• The Porciúncula chapel in Italy, beloved by St. Francis of Assisi

Within decades, locals dropped everything except "Los Ángeles." By the American period in 1848, even the accent marks were gone.

From Pueblo to Megacity

Those 44 settlers couldn't have imagined their tiny farming community would become America's second-largest city. The original pueblo covered just 28 square miles. Today, Los Angeles sprawls across 503 square miles with nearly 4 million residents.

The Porciúncula River they named the town after? It's now a concrete flood channel most Angelenos call "that thing under the bridges." The Los Angeles River briefly became famous when it appeared in Grease and Terminator 2.

Not Even the Longest California Name

Los Angeles doesn't hold California's record for lengthy city names. That honor goes to Rancho Santa Margarita — though LA's original 55-character name would have crushed the competition.

San Francisco also started with a longer title: "La Misión de Nuestro Padre San Francisco de Asís." Spanish colonizers clearly had a thing for comprehensive naming.

Today, most locals just say "LA" — two letters representing a 55-character history that stretches back to when California was still part of New Spain. The abbreviation makes sense. After all, nobody has time to say "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula" when they're stuck on the 405.