How did Alcatraz Prison get its name?
There were strange looking birds living on the island when the Spanish visited it in the 1700’s. They were Pelicans. Here is the text from the link below: Named for the Spanish word alcatraces, meaning “strange bird” – a reference to pelicans living on the island when it was visited by the Spanish, alcatraces was originally the name for what is now Yerba Buena Island in the San Francisco Bay. In 1775, the name transferred to the current site with the US Coast Guard Survey shortening the name to Alcatraz in 1851 I hope this helps. Sources: http://www.beachcalifornia.com/alcatraz.
Derived from the Spanish word “Alcatraces”, over time the name was Anglicized to “Alcatraz”. While the exact meaning is still debated, “Alcatraz” is usually defined as meaning “strange bird” or “pelican”, as pelicans regularly inhabited the island. Sources: www.bop.gov, www.thewallpapers.
Alcatraz was given it’s name in 1775. That’s when Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala was charting the Frisco Bay, and decided to name that tiny little island “La Isla ds los Alcatraces”. That translates to “Island of the Pelicans”. It didn’t take long to “Americanize” that name into Alcatraz. Funny, when I think of that island, pelicans are about the last image that conjurs up. Sources: http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rs1.
