| 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 last 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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, fourth 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
uncertain, most likely Saint Augustine of Hippo |
| 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 Seguín |
| 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 Hall Plantation, the Virginia boyhood home of Robert E. Lee |
| Sulphur Springs |
Hopkins |
nearby springs of water containing sulphur |
| Sweetwater |
Nolan |
nearby Sweetwater Creek |
| 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) |
