List of Texas county seat name etymologies

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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 Texas counties instead of its county seats, is also available.

Contents
Top - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] A

County Seat	County	Named for
Abilene	Taylor	Abilene, Kansas, a famous cowtown
Albany	Shackelford	Albany, Georgia, the former home of an early settler
Alice	Jim Wells	Alice Gertrudis King Kleberg, the daughter of Richard King and wife of Robert Justus Kleberg III of the King Ranch
Alpine	Brewster	its location in mountainous West Texas
Amarillo	Potter	nearby Amarillo Lake and Amarillo Creek, in turn probably named for the yellow soil along their banks and shores (Amarillo is the Spanish word for yellow)
Anahuac	Chambers	the Anahuac region of Mexico, the ancient capital of the Aztecs
Anderson	Grimes	Kenneth Lewis Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas
Andrews	Andrews	Richard Andrews, the first Texan soldier to die in the Texas Revolution
Angleton	Brazoria	the wife of George W. Angle, a railroad official who had been prominent in making Velasco, Texas a deep-water port
Anson	Jones	Anson Jones, the fifth president of the Republic of Texas
Archer City	Archer	Branch Tanner Archer, a commissioner for the Republic of Texas
Aspermont	Stonewall	the Latin word for rough mountain
Athens	Henderson	hopes that the town would be a cultural center in the vein of Athens, Greece
Austin	Travis	Stephen F. Austin, who facilitated the Anglo American colonization of Texas and is known as the Father of Texas

[edit] B

County Seat	County	Named for
Baird	Callahan	Matthew Baird, former owner of the Baldwin Locomotive Works
Ballinger	Runnels	William Pitt Ballinger, a Galveston attorney and railroad stockholder
Bandera	Bandera	Bandera Pass, named in turn for the Spanish word for flag
Bastrop	Bastrop	Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, an early German settler
Bay City	Matagorda	its location on Bay Prairie
Beaumont	Jefferson	the maiden name of the wife of Henry Millard, a developer of the town
Beeville	Bee	Barnard Elliott Bee, Sr., a secretary of state of the Republic of Texas
Bellville	Austin	Thomas B. Bell, an early settler in Texas
Belton	Bell	its location in Bell County
Benjamin	Knox	Benjamin Bedford, a lightning victim and the son of Hilory H. Bedford, a president and controlling stockholder in the Wichita and Brazos Stock Company
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 Sulphur Draw (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)
Boston	Bowie	W. J. Boston, who operated the first store in nearby Old Boston, Texas (the original Boston)
Brackettville	Kinney	Oscar Bernadotte Brackett, an early merchant in the region
Brady	McCulloch	Brady Creek, which runs through the town
Breckenridge	Stephens	John Cabell Breckinridge, the fourteenth vice president of the United States (note the change in spelling)
Brenham	Washington	Richard Fox Brenham, a soldier in the Texas Revolution who had practiced medicine in the vicinity
Brownfield	Terry	a prominent ranching family in the area
Brownsville	Cameron	Fort Brown, named in turn for Major Jacob Brown, who died during an attack on the fort in the Mexican-American War
Brownwood	Brown	Henry Stevenson Brown, a commander at the Battle of Velasco
Bryan	Brazos	William Joel Bryan, a nephew of Stephen Fuller Austin who donated land for the town
Burnet	Burnet	David G. Burnet, president of the Republic of Texas

[edit] C

County Seat	County	Named for
Caldwell	Burleson	Mathew Caldwell, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and soldier during the Texas Revolution
Cameron	Milam	Ewen Cameron, a soldier during the Texas Revolution
Canadian	Hemphill	its location on the Canadian River
Canton	Van Zandt	the town of Old Canton, Texas in neighboring Smith County
Canyon	Randall	nearby Palo Duro Canyon
Carrizo Springs	Dimmit	the nearby springs
Carthage	Panola	Carthage, Mississippi
Center	Shelby	its location in the center of Shelby County (the town and county, though, are near the Louisiana border in East Texas)
Centerville	Leon	its location in the center of Leon County (coincidentally, the town is also located almost midway between Dallas and Houston)
Channing	Hartley	George Channing Rivers, the paymaster of the railroad when it built through the area
Childress	Childress	George Campbell Childress, the chairman of the committee which authored the Texas Declaration of Independence
Clarendon	Donley	uncertain; either Clara Carhart, the wife of Reverend Lewis Henry Carhart, a developer of the town; or Clarendon, England
Clarksville	Red River	James Clark, the founder of the town
Claude	Armstrong	Claude Ayers, the engineer of the first train to travel through the area
Cleburne	Johnson	Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, a Confederate general in the Civil War
Coldspring	San Jacinto	the cold springwater found at the location
Coleman	Coleman	its location in Coleman County
Colorado City	Mitchell	its location on the Colorado River
Columbus	Colorado	Columbus, Ohio
Comanche	Comanche	its location in Comanche County
Conroe	Montgomery	Isaac Conroe, the first postmaster of the town
Cooper	Delta	L. W. Cooper, a supporter of the bill creating Delta County
Corpus Christi	Nueces	the Latin phrase "corpus christi", meaning "Body of Christ"
Corsicana	Navarro	the island of Corsica, birthplace of the parents of José Antonio Navarro, the namesake of Navarro County
Cotulla	La Salle	Joseph Cotulla, the developer of the town
Crane	Crane	William Carey Crane, a past president of the Baylor University
Crockett	Houston	Davy Crockett, former Tennessee congressman and defender of the Alamo, widely recognized as one of the key figures in Texas history
Crosbyton	Crosby	Stephen Crosby, former Texas Commissioner of the General Land Office
Crowell	Foard	George T. Crowell, owner of the townsite
Crystal City	Zavala	the clear artesian water of the area
Cuero	DeWitt	Spanish word for "hide" or "leather"; cattle was (and still is) a major component of the local economy

[edit] D

County Seat	County	Named for
Daingerfield	Morris	Captain London Daingerfield, who was killed in an 1830 battle with Indians on the site that became the town in the 1840's
Dalhart	Dallam	its location on the border of Dallam County and Hartley County
Dallas	Dallas	uncertain; the primary report is that John Neely Bryan, the founder of Dallas, named it for "my good friend Dallas". This person is commonly reported to be either 1) George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh vice president of the United States; 2) his brother, Alexander J. Dallas (U.S. Navy officer), a naval commodore; 3) their father, Alexander J. Dallas (statesman), United States Secretary of the Treasury around the end of the War of 1812; or 4) a person named Dallas whose identity is not certain. Another report has the town being named Dallas as the result of a town-naming contest in 1842.
Decatur	Wise	Stephen Decatur, a Revolutionary War naval hero
Del Rio	Val Verde	its location on the Rio Grande
Denton	Denton	Methodist preacher and Indian fighter John Bunyan Denton, who was killed in 1841 at the Battle of Village Creek
Dickens	Dickens	its location in Dickens County
Dimmitt	Castro	W. C. Dimmitt, a land owner and developer
Dumas	Moore	Louis Dumas, president of the Panhandle Townsite Company in Sherman

[edit] E

County Seat	County	Named for
Eagle Pass	Maverick	its location along the migratory paths of eagles
Eastland	Eastland	its location in Eastland County
Edinburg	Hidalgo	Edinburgh, Scotland
Edna	Jackson	a daughter of Count Joseph Telfener - an Italian entrepreneur who was building a railroad from Rosenburg to Victoria
El Paso	El Paso	El Paso del Norte, Spanish for "The Passageway to the North" (the mountain pass in which the city is located)
Eldorado	Schleicher	the mythical city of El Dorado
Emory	Rains	Lieutenant William Hemsley Emory, United States Army surveyor who surveyed Texas in 1846 shortly after its annexation. (It is not named for Emory Rains, an early legislator and surveyor of the area, for whom Rains County is named.)

[edit] F

County Seat	County	Named for
Fairfield	Freestone	info needed
Falfurrias	Brooks	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 Capitol Syndicate, 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, various reasons for the current name include 1) the original name was intended to be Floydalia but was garbled in transmission to Washington; 2) a combination of the county name and that of James Price's mother, Ada (Price donated the land on which the town sits), and 3) Caroline Price's parents, Floyd and Ada.
Fort Davis	Jeff Davis	Fort Davis, named for Jefferson Davis (for whom the county is also named)
Fort Stockton	Pecos	Camp Stockton (formally established in March 1859), in turn named in honor of Captain Robert Field Stockton, a prominent navy officer in the Mexican War.
Fort Worth	Tarrant	William Jenkins Worth, a general in the Mexican-American War
Franklin	Robertson	the name of the town which was the prior county seat, named in turn for Francis Slauter, who owned the land on which the prior county seat was located (originally called "New Franklin" to distinguish it from the prior county seat; the "New" was later dropped)
Fredericksburg	Gillespie	Prince Frederick of Prussia

[edit] G

County Seat	County	Named for
Gail	Borden	Gail Borden, Jr., businessman, publisher, surveyor, and inventor of condensed milk
Gainesville	Cooke	United States General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, a sympathizer of the Texas Revolution
Galveston	Galveston	Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish governor of the Louisiana Territory and an ally of the United States during the American Revolution
Garden City	Glasscock	an unnamed Mr. Gardner from an Ohio land company sent to operate a store in the area; the post office was to be named Gardner City but was misspelled (Garden City later lost a vote for county seat to a nearby community named New California which had fewer buildings; the residents moved much of the original Garden City to New California and renamed it after the original town)
Gatesville	Coryell	Fort Gates on the banks of the Leon River (about 5 miles from the current site of Gatesville), which in turn was named after United States Army Major Collinson Reed Gates
George West	Live Oak	George Washington West, an early rancher in the area who founded the town, paid the railroad to build through it, and paid to build the county courthouse after the voters approved the move of the county seat to his new town
Georgetown	Williamson	George Washington Glasscock, an early settler of the area
Giddings	Lee	uncertain, either Dewitt Clinton Giddings, local politician, or Jabez Deming Giddings, a local railroad official
Gilmer	Upshur	Captain Thomas W. Gilmer, United States Secretary of the Navy; both Gilmer and Abel Parker Upshur (namesake of Upshur County) were killed in 1844 when a new Naval gun exploded during a demonstration aboard the USS Princeton on the Potomac
Glen Rose	Somervell	Rose Glen, by Mrs. T.C. Jordan (wife of the owner of the land on which the town was settled) as a reminder of her native Scotland, later the citizens voted to rename the town Glen Rose
Goldthwaite	Mills	Joe G. Goldthwaite, railroad official for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway who conducted the auction of town lots
Goliad	Goliad	the Mexican Municipality of Goliad, which in turn is named for Father Miguel Hidalgo ("Goliad" is an anagram of "Hidalgo" minus the silent H)
Gonzales	Gonzales	Rafael Gonzales, governor of Coahuila y Tejas
Graham	Young	Gustavus A. and Edwin S. Graham, early settlers in the area
Granbury	Hood	Hiram B. Granbury, Confederate General
Greenville	Hunt	Thomas J. Green, a general in the Texas Army in the war for independence from Mexico and, later, a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas
Groesbeck	Limestone	Abram Groesbeeck, a director of the Houston and Texas Central Railway
Groveton	Trinity	a grove of blackjack trees situated between the town and the nearby lumber mill
Guthrie	King	W.H. Guthrie of Kentucky, a major stockholder of the Louisville Land and Cattle Company which owned much of the surrounding area

[edit] H

County Seat	County	Named for
Hallettsville	Lavaca	Margaret L. Hallett, widow of early settler John Hallett who donated land for the townsite
Hamilton	Hamilton	James Hamilton Jr., the former governor of South Carolina who gave financial aid to the Republic of Texas
Haskell	Haskell	Charles Ready Haskell, killed in the Goliad massacre
Hebbronville	Jim Hogg	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 that the county seat must be named Henrietta. One theory is that Henrietta is a feminized version of Henry (the county is named for Henry Clay)
Hereford	Deaf Smith	The Hereford cattle brought to the area by early ranchers
Hillsboro	Hill	George Washington Hill, a Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy under the Republic of Texas, surgeon and early settler of the area (originally called Hillsborough, later shortened at the direction of the post office)
Hondo	Medina	Named for the nearby Hondo Creek. Hondo in Spanish means deep.
Houston	Harris	Sam Houston, undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the history of Texas, having won Texas its complete independence at the Battle of San Jacinto, as well as being the second and fourth president of the Republic of Texas and seventh governor of Texas
Huntsville	Walker	Huntsville, Alabama, hometown of Ephraim Gray, the city's first postmaster

[edit] 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
Jasper	Jasper	William Jasper, a Revolutionary War hero
Jayton	Kent	the Jay family, early ranchers in the area
Jefferson	Marion	Thomas Jefferson
Johnson City	Blanco	James Polk Johnson, who not only was named for a President of the United States (James Polk) but who would later be the grandfather of one (Lyndon Baines Johnson)
Jourdanton	Atascosa	Jourdan Campbell, owner of a local ranch, who lent his name to the city.
Junction	Kimble	its location at the confluence of the North and South Llano Rivers

[edit] K

County Seat	County	Named for
Karnes City	Karnes	Henry Wax Karnes, a soldier in the Texas Revolution (the "City" was added to avoid confusion with the North Texas community of Kerens)
Kaufman	Kaufman	David Spangler Kaufman, a Jewish Texas state senator and first Texas Jewish member of the United States House of Representatives
Kermit	Winkler	Kermit Roosevelt, younger son of President Theodore Roosevelt; Kermit had visited the county to hunt antelope a few months before the town was named
Kerrville	Kerr	James Kerr, a Republic of Texas congressman
Kingsville	Kleberg	Richard King, original establisher of the King Ranch
Kountze	Hardin	Herman and Augustus Kountze, financial backers of the Sabine and East Texas Railroad

[edit] L

County Seat	County	Named for
La Grange	Fayette	the name of the former home of Marquis de la Fayette, the Revolutionary War hero for whom Fayette County is named
Lamesa	Dawson	Changed form of La Mesa. Named so due to flatness of surrounding region.
Lampasas	Lampasas	the nearby Lampasas River
Laredo	Webb	Laredo, Spain
Leakey	Real	John Leakey, an early settler in the area
Levelland	Hockley	the local topography of the area (level land; the town is located on the South Plains)
Liberty	Liberty	the name given to the city by Spanish squatters, "Trinidad de Santimissia de la Libertad", which translates "The Holy Trinity of Liberty" (as the town sits on the banks of the Trinity River); the name was later shortened to Liberty
Linden	Cass	uncertain, reportedly named after a former Tennesseean, who named it after his former home
Lipscomb	Lipscomb	Judge Abner Smith Lipscomb, a secretary of state of the Republic of Texas
Littlefield	Lamb	George W. Littlefield, local ranch owner and founder of the town
Livingston	Polk	Livingston, Tennessee, hometown of founder Moses L. Choate
Llano	Llano	the nearby Llano River
Lockhart	Caldwell	Bryd Lockhart, an assistant surveyor and reportedly the first Anglo to set foot in the county
Longview	Gregg	the impressive view railroad management could see from the house of Ossamus Hitch Methvin Sr., from whom the railroad purchased the land which would comprise the town (the name is somewhat ironic given its 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	Abraham P. Lufkin, 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

[edit] M

County Seat	County	Named for
Madisonville	Madison	James Madison, fourth President of the United States
Marfa	Presidio	uncertain, reportedly suggested by the wife of a railroad executive from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov, which she was reading at the time
Marlin	Falls	John Marlin, a pioneer patriot
Marshall	Harrison	John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
Mason	Mason	Fort Mason, which was located in the county
Matador	Motley	the Matador Ranch, which was located in the county
McKinney	Collin	Collin McKinney, one of five drafters and the oldest signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and early settler in the county
Memphis	Hall	a letter, mistakenly addressed to the then-nonexistent Memphis, Texas instead of Memphis, Tennessee; the letter was remembered when the community was named
Menard	Menard	Michel Branamour Menard, the founder of Galveston, Texas
Mentone	Loving	an earlier town in the county, named in turn for the city of Menton, France, the home of a photographer and early settler
Meridian	Bosque	uncertain, the reported explanation is that the town was named after several geographic places surveyed by George Bernard Erath, who surveyed Bosque County and neighboring Erath County later named after him.
Mertzon	Irion	M. L. Mertz, who was a director of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway
Miami	Roberts	uncertain, reportedly an Indian word meaning sweetheart, could also be named after the Miami tribe
Midland	Midland	its location midway between Fort Worth and El Paso on the Texas and Pacific Railroad
Monahans	Ward	Thomas John (Pat) Monahan, who dug the first water well between the Pecos River and Big Spring in 1881 and selected the site for a water tank, around which a ranch supply point later developed (the town was originally called Monahan's Well, later shortened to its present name)
Montague	Montague	Daniel Montague, a state senator and early surveyor
Morton	Cochran	Morton Smith, a land agent hired to sell the property after the death of the original landowner
Mount Pleasant	Titus	a Caddo burial site known as "Pleasant Mound" in the central part of the county
Mount Vernon	Franklin	Mount Vernon, George Washington's homestead
Muleshoe	Bailey	the Muleshoe Ranch, which was located in the county

[edit] N

County Seat	County	Named for
Nacogdoches	Nacogdoches	the Nacogdoches Indian tribe, whose word for friends – tejas – later became Anglicized to Texas
New Braunfels	Comal	Braunfels, Germany, hometown of German nobleman Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, Commissioner General of the "Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas", also known as the "Noblemen's Society" (in German: Mainzer Adelsverein), who established the city
Newton	Newton	John Newton, a veteran of the Revolutionary War

[edit] O

County Seat	County	Named for
Odessa	Ector	reportedly named by railroad workers from Ukraine who, as a joke, named the town after their hometown of Odessa, Ukraine. Odessa, Ukraine has a landscape is covered in mountains, forest, and lakes; complete contrast to Odessa, Texas which is flat, barren oilfields.
Orange	Orange	an orange grove owned by local resident George Patillo
Ozona	Crockett	the quantity of ozone in the local air

[edit] P

County Seat	County	Named for
Paducah	Cottle	Paducah, Kentucky, the home of an early settler
Panhandle	Carson	its location in the Texas Panhandle
Paint Rock	Concho	Native American pictographs discovered on the nearby Concho River
Palo Pinto	Palo Pinto	nearby Palo Pinto Creek
Palestine	Anderson	Palestine, Illinois, the home of an early settler
Pampa	Gray	the pampas of Argentina, which George Tyng, manager of the local White Deer Land Company, had previously visited and stated the area resembled
Paris	Lamar	Paris, France
Pearsall	Frio	Thomas W. Pearsall, vice president of the railroad
Pecos	Reeves	nearby Pecos River
Perryton	Ochiltree	George M. Perry, an early county judge
Pittsburg	Camp	Major W.H. Pitts, who settled the tract of land which eventually became the town
Plains	Yoakum	uncertain, most likely named for the surrounding South Plains
Plainview	Hale	the unobstructed view (plain view) of the surrounding South Plains
Port Lavaca	Calhoun	Spanish phrase for "the cow" (also the name of Lavaca Bay on which it sits)
Post	Garza	founder C. W. Post, the cereal magnate who attempted to develop the town as a Utopian community

[edit] Q

County Seat	County	Named for
Quanah	Hardeman	Quanah Parker, the last Comanche Indian chief
Quitman	Wood	John Anthony Quitman, Governor of Mississippi in 1850

[edit] R

County Seat	County	Named for
Rankin	Upton	Frederick Harrison Rankin, one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred settlers
Raymondville	Willacy	Edward Burleson Raymond, a former foreman of a division of the King Ranch
Refugio	Refugio	Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mission which was located in the county
Richmond	Fort Bend	Richmond, England
Rio Grande City	Starr	nearby Rio Grande
Robert Lee	Coke	Robert E. Lee, Confederate General
Roby	Fisher	M. L. and D. C. Roby, developers from Mississippi
Rockport	Aransas	the rock ledge underneath its shore (Rockport sits adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico)
Rocksprings	Edwards	springs bubbling from nearby rocks
Rockwall	Rockwall	a subterranean rock formation (appearing as a wall) which runs through the county
Rusk	Cherokee	Thomas Jefferson Rusk, Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas

[edit] S

County Seat	County	Named for
San Angelo	Tom Green	the wife of Bartholomew DeWitt, a Tom Green County landowner
San Antonio	Bexar	the Spanish mission San Antonio de Valero, better known as the Alamo
San Augustine	San Augustine	most likely Saint Augustine of Hippo, for whom San Augustine County is named
San Diego	Duval	San Diego Creek, on which it is established
San Marcos	Hays	its location on the San Marcos River
San Saba	San Saba	its location in San Saba County
Sanderson	Terrell	Thomas P. Sanderson, a construction engineer
Sarita	Kenedy	Sarita Kenedy, daughter of ranch owner John G. Kenedy (for whose family the county is named)
Seminole	Gaines	its proximity to Seminole Indian watering holes
Seguin	Guadalupe	Juan Seguin
Seymour	Baylor	cowboy Seymour Munday
Sherman	Grayson	General Sidney Sherman, a hero of the Texas Revolution and the man credited with the battle cry "Remember the Alamo!"
Sierra Blanca	Hudspeth	its proximity to Sierra Blanca Mountain
Silverton	Briscoe	uncertain, reportedly named by the wife of founder Thomas J. Braidfoot for the silvery reflections of the shallow lakes in the area
Sinton	San Patricio	a major stock-holder in the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company
Snyder	Scurry	William Henry Snyder, a merchant and buffalo hunter who operated a trading post in the area
Sonora	Sutton	Sonora, Mexico, hometown of a family servant of landowner Charles G. (Charlie) Adams
Spearman	Hansford	railroad executive Thomas E. Spearman
Stanton	Martin	Supreme Court Justice Edwin McMasters Stanton
Stephenville	Erath	landowner John M. Stephens
Sterling City	Sterling	its location in Sterling County
Stinnett	Hutchinson	Albert Sidney Stinnett of Amarillo, who had helped purchase the right-of-way for the railroad
Stratford	Sherman	Stratford, Virginia, the boyhood home of Robert E. Lee
Sulphur Springs	Hopkins	nearby springs of water containing sulphur
Sweetwater	Nolan	nearby Sweetwater Creek

[edit] T

County Seat	County	Named for
Tahoka	Lynn	the Tahoka Townsite Company, which was owned by B. G. Sweet, W. T. Petty, and Tack Alley
Throckmorton	Throckmorton	its location in Throckmorton County
Tilden	McMullen	Samuel J. Tilden, the runner-up in the 1876 Presidential election
Tulia	Swisher	its proximity to Tule Creek
Tyler	Smith	President John Tyler

[edit] U

County Seat	County	Named for
Uvalde	Uvalde	Juan de Ugalde, former Spanish governor of Texas

[edit] V

County Seat	County	Named for
Van Horn	Culberson	Union Army Major Jefferson Van Horne
Vega	Oldham	the Spanish word for meadow
Vernon	Wilbarger	Mount Vernon, George Washington's homestead
Victoria	Victoria	its location in Victoria County

[edit] W

County Seat	County	Named for
Waco	McLennan	the Waco (or Hueco) band of the Wichita Indians, who were the early settlers in the area
Waxahachie	Ellis	the Indian name for "Buffalo Creek" (or "Cow Creek", though Buffalo Creek is the official name), on which the city is located. (However, some local residents insist that the name actually means "buffalo excrement", but this cannot be confirmed.)
Weatherford	Parker	Jefferson Weatherford, Texas State Senator for the district in which the town and surrounding Parker County were located
Wellington	Collingsworth	the Duke of Wellington (one of the owners of the Rocking Chair Ranch, located in the county, was related to the Earl of Aberdeen who had been with the Duke at Waterloo)
Wharton	Wharton	John Wharton and brother William Wharton, two leaders of the Texas Revolution
Wheeler	Wheeler	Royal Tyler Wheeler, a chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court
Wichita Falls	Wichita	a series of falls on the Wichita River which runs through the town (the falls were destroyed during a flood in 1886; an artificial set of falls was built nearly 100 years later in response to tourists wanting to visit the falls)
Woodville	Tyler	George T. Wood, the second Governor of Texas who introduced the bill to establish Tyler County (coincidentally, the city is located in heavily-forested Deep East Texas where the timber industry is a major employer)

[edit] Z

County Seat	County	Named for
Zapata	Zapata	Antonio Zapata, a wealthy ranch owner and military leader in the early 1800's