Galveston

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A coastal city and seaport on an island off the Texas shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico
2. A historic port city located on Galveston Island in the state of Texas, facing the Gulf of Mexico
3. Name of an island city in southeastern Texas known for its harbor and its beaches on the Gulf coast

Etymology: The city of Galveston, Texas, is named after a Spanish colonial governor who never set foot there. In 1783, Spanish navigator José Antonio de Evia renamed the island and bay "Gálvez" in honor of Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez, then Spanish Vice-Roy of New Spain. Gálvez had supported the American colonists during the Revolutionary War, and the name was a gesture of that alliance. The name later shifted from the island to the town. The port that grew up on the island took the island's name, and the bay and island were subsequently renamed after that port. "Galveston" is therefore a compound of "Galvez," the Spanish surname, and "-ton," the English town-ending, so the name reads roughly as "Gálvez's Town."