What Does Novato Mean, Anyway?

Sir Francis Drake crashes a party thrown by the Coastal Miwok, c. 1579.

Besides the extreme antiquity of some of the area strip malls, the human settlements around Novato are quite old, having shown human habitation for approximately 15,000+ years. The first Novato natives we know of, the Coastal Miwoks and Miwoks, lived in and around Novato for thousands of years prior to the European invasions. Most surprising to Marin residents: few -- if any --- of those drove Mercedes (unless a horse was so named).

That said, what the heck does, "Novato," mean anyway? It could come from an obscure letter written in 1768 by the Spanish Visitor General, Jose de Galvez, who refused to venture so far north to see land he owned, hence "No-va-to" could be loosely translated as meaning, "Dude, I'm SO not going that far." There was also an Italian crewman attached to Sir Francis Drake's 1579 California expedition who lit out from the ship, when it landed at Drake's Bay, booming out with a topless Miwok bride, but who died enroute to the fishing village that would eventually become Miwok Park. So, it could potentially be italian for, "not to be." However, it seems that the last Miwok chief (his original name unrecorded) converted to Christianity and took a name suggested by a Spanish priest, based on that of St. Novatus, an early Christian saint, c.151 AD. "Novato" thus comes from the Latin for, "fresh start," or "renewed." Not nearly as much fun, but at least now you know.

In reality, the nature of Novato is probably an olio of the above definitions, with many more yet to be discovered.

Sources:

1. Powers, Stephen. Tribes of California. University of California Press, 1976. (Reprinted from Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. III. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, 1877.)

2. Trimegistus, Hermes. Hermetica, Vol. VI. Philosopher's Stone Press, Constantinople, 1895.

3. Durham, David L. California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Quill Driver Books, 1998.