This is a list of Texas county seat name etymologies.

Alphabetical, by first letter

A

• Abilene, Texas: Abilene is named for Abilene, Kansas, a famous cowtown.
• Albany, Texas: Albany is named for Albany, Georgia, the former home of an early settler.
• Alice, Texas: Alice is named for Alice Gertrudis King Kleberg , the daughter of Richard King and wife of Robert Justus Kleberg III of the King Ranch.
• Alpine, Texas: Alpine is named for its location in mountainous West Texas.
• Amarillo, Texas: Amarillo is named for the 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, Texas: Anahuac is named for the Anahuac region of Mexico, the ancient capital of the Aztecs.
• Anderson, Texas: Anderson is named for Kenneth Lewis Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas.
• Andrews, Texas: Andrews is named for Richard Andrews , the first Texan soldier to die in the Texas Revolution.
• Angleton, Texas: Angleton is named for the wife of George W. Angle , a railroad official who had been prominent in making Velasco, Texas a deep-water port.
• Anson, Texas: Anson is named for Anson Jones, the fifth president of the Republic of Texas.
• Archer City, Texas: Archer City is named for Branch Tanner Archer , a commissioner for the Republic of Texas.
• Aspermont, Texas: Aspermont is named for the Latin word for rough mountain.
• Athens, Texas: Athens is named for hopes that the town would be a cultural center in the vein of Athens, Greece.
• Austin, Texas: Austin is named for Stephen Fuller Austin, who facilitated the Anglo American colonization of Texas and is known as the Father of Texas.

B

• Baird, Texas: Baird is named for Matthew Baird, a railroad surveyor and engineer.
• Ballinger, Texas: Ballinger is named for William Pitt Ballinger , a Galveston attorney and railroad stockholder.
• Bandera, Texas: Bandera is named for Bandera Pass , named in turn for the Spanish word for flag.
• Bastrop, Texas: Bastrop is named for Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop , an early German settler.
• Bay City, Texas: Bay City is named for its location on Bay Prairie .
• Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is named for the maiden name of the wife of Henry Millard , a developer of the town.
• Beeville, Texas: Beeville is named for Barnard Elliott Bee, Sr., a secretary of state of the Republic of Texas.
• Bellville, Texas: Bellville is named for Thomas B. Bell , an early settler in Texas.
• Belton, Texas: Belton is named for its location in Bell County, Texas.
• Benjamin, Texas: Benjamin is named for 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, Texas: Big Lake is named for the nearby Big Lake.
• Big Spring, Texas: Big Spring is named for the nearby "big spring" in Sulphur Draw .
• Boerne, Texas: Boerne is named for Ludwig Boerne , a German author and publicist.
• Bonham, Texas: Bonham is named for James Butler Bonham , who died at the Alamo.
• Boston, Texas: Boston is named for W. J. Boston , who operated the first store in nearly Old Boston, Texas (the original Boston).
• Brackettville, Texas: Brackettville is named for Oscar Bernadotte Brackett , an early merchant in the region.
• Brady, Texas: Brady is named for Brady Creek which runs through the town.
• Breckenridge, Texas: Breckinridge is named for John Cabell Breckinridge, the fourteenth vice president of the United States.
• Brenham, Texas: Brenham is named for Richard Fox Brenham , a soldier in the Texas Revolution who had practiced medicine in the vicinity.
• Brownfield, Texas: Brownfield is named for a prominent ranching family in the area.
• Brownsville, Texas: Brownsville is named for Fort Brown, named in turn for Major Jacob Brown, who died during an attack on the fort in the Mexican-American War.
• Brownwood, Texas: Brownwood is named for Henry Stevenson Brown , a commander at the Battle of Velasco.
• Bryan, Texas: Bryan is named for William Joel Bryan, a nephew of Stephen Fuller Austin who donated land for the town.
• Burnet, Texas: Burnet is named for its location in Burnet County, Texas.

C

• Caldwell, Texas: Caldwell is named for Mathew Caldwell , a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and soldier during the Texas Revolution.
• Cameron, Texas: Cameron is named for Ewen Cameron , a soldier during the Texas Revolution.
• Canadian, Texas: Canadian is named for its location on the Canadian River.
• Canton, Texas: Canton is named for the town of Old Canton, Texas in Smith County.
• Canyon, Texas: Canyon is named for Palo Duro Canyon.
• Carrizo Springs, Texas: Carrizo Springs is named for the nearby Carrizo springs.
• Carthage, Texas: Carthage is named for Carthage, Mississippi.
• Center, Texas: Center is named for its location in the center of Shelby County, Texas.
• Centerville, Texas: Centerville is named for its location in the center of Leon County, Texas.
• Channing, Texas: Channing is named for George Channing Rivers , the paymaster of the railroad when it built through the area.
• Childress, Texas: Childress is named for George Campbell Childress , the author of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
• Clarendon, Texas: Clarendon is named for either Clara Carhart , the wife of Reverend Lewis Henry Carhart , a developer of the town; or Clarendon, England .
• Clarksville, Texas: Clarksville is named for James Clark , the founder of the town.
• Claude, Texas: Claude is named for Claude Ayers , the engineer of the first train to travel through the area.
• Cleburne, Texas: Cleburne is named for Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, a Confederate general in the Civil War.
• Coldspring, Texas: Coldspring is named for the cold springwater found at the location.
• Coleman, Texas: Coleman is named for its location in Coleman County, Texas.
• Colorado City, Texas: Colorado City is named for its location on the Colorado River.
• Columbus, Texas: Columbus is named for Columbus, Ohio.
• Comanche, Texas: Comanche is named for its location in Comanche County, Texas.
• Conroe, Texas: Conroe is named for Isaac Conroe , the first postmaster of the town.
• Cooper, Texas: Cooper is named for L. W. Cooper , a supporter of the bill creating Delta County, Texas (Cooper's county).
• Corpus Christi, Texas: Corpus Christi is named for the Latin phrase "corpus christi", meaning "Body of Christ".
• Corsicana, Texas: Corsicana is named for the island of Corsica, the birthplace of the parents of José Antonio Navarro , the namesake of Navarro County, Texas (Corsicana's county).
• Cotulla, Texas: Cotulla is named for Joseph Cotulla , the developer of the town.
• Crane, Texas: Crane is named for William Carey Crane , a president of the Baylor University.
• Crockett, Texas: Crockett is named for
• Crosbyton, Texas: Crosbyton is named for
• Crowell, Texas: Crowell is named for
• Crystal City, Texas: Crystal City is named for
• Cuero, Texas: Cuero is named for

D

• Daingerfield, Texas: Daingerfield is named for
• Dalhart, Texas: Dalhart is named for its location on the border of Dallam and Hartley counties.
• Dallas, Texas: Dallas is named for either George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh vice president of the United States; his brother, Alexander James Dallas, a naval commodore and United States Secretary of the Treasury around the end of the War of 1812; the friend of the son of Dallas's founder, John Neely Bryan , a person whose identity is not certain; or the town was simply named in a town-naming contest in 1842.
• Decatur, Texas: Decatur is named for
• Del Rio, Texas: Del Rio is named for
• Denton, Texas: Denton is named for
• Dickens, Texas: Dickens is named for
• Dimmitt, Texas: Dimmitt is named for
• Dumas, Texas: Dumas is named for

E

• Eagle Pass, Texas: Eagle Pass is named for
• Eastland, Texas: Eastland is named for
• Edinburg, Texas: Edinburg is named for
• Edna, Texas: Edna is named for
• El Paso, Texas: El Paso is named for
• Eldorado, Texas: Eldorado is named for
• Emory, Texas: Emory is named for Emory Rains , an early legislator and surveyor of the area.

F

• Fort Worth, Texas: Fort Worth is named for William Jenkins Worth , a general in the Mexican-American War.

G

• Georgetown, Texas: Georgetown is named for George Washington Glasscock, an early settler of the area.

H

• Henderson, Texas: Henderson is named for James Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of Texas.
• Houston, Texas: Houston is named for Samuel "Sam" Houston, 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.

L

• Longview, Texas: Longview is named for the impressive view railroad management could see from Ossamus Hitch Methvin 's house.
• Lufkin, Texas: Lufkin is named for Abraham P. Lufkin , a cotton merchant and city councilman, who was a close friend of Paul Bremond , president of the Houston, East and West Texas Railway which developed the town.

M

• Memphis, Texas: Memphis is named for a letter mistakenly addressed to the then-nonexistent Memphis, Texas instead of Memphis, Tennessee; the letter was remembered when the community was named.
• Mentone, Texas: Mentone is named for an earlier town in the county named in turn for the city of Menton, France, the home of a photographer and early settler.

P

• Panhandle, Texas: Panhandle is named for its location in the Texas Panhandle.
• Palestine, Texas: Palestine is named for Palestine, Illinois, the home of an early settler.

See also

• Texas
• County seat
• List of Texas county name etymologies

Source

• The Handbook of Texas Online