Where did the name for the Santa Ana winds come from?
A. Sources vary. The most common explanation has the wind being named for the Santa Ana Canyon in Southern California’s Orange County, which discounts its rather more regional scope and impact. However, alternative explanations are much more dubious. It is often claimed that “Santa Ana” is a corrupted version of “Santana” which is purported to mean “devil” in Spanish or an Indian language. Yet, the Spanish word for devil is “diablo” and its Satan is “Satana”, conspicuously missing an extra “n”. The Indian language in which “Santana” means devil has not yet been identified. I am not a linguist, but I suggest it is more likely for a term like “Santana” to have evolved from “Santa Ana” than vice-versa (think “San Francisco” becoming “Frisco” or “New Orleans” devolving into “N’orleans”). References to Mexican General Santa Anna have also been made. All I’m fairly sure of it’s not likely named after the feast day of Santa Ana in the Catholic calendar as that falls in July, outside of Santa
