The Catalinas were originally named the "Sierra de las Santa Catarina" as depicted on a German map from 1875 and prior maps dating back to 1864.[3] A successive map from 1890 still referred to the Catalinas as the "Santa Catarina Mountains."[4] However, a map from 1895 depicted the range with the name "Santa Catalina." [5] Various maps during the 1880s and 1890s referred to the range as either "Santa Catarina" or "Santa Catalina." [6] However, by 1902 the range was officially designated the "Santa Catalina Mountains," as the General Land Office established the Santa Catalina Forest Reserve that year, encompassing 155,520 acres (later to become the Santa Catalina National Forest.)[7] As such, the name of the range apparently morphed into the current "Santa Catalina Mountains" sometime between 1890 and 1902, but each previous version of the name always referred to the namesake St. Catherine.
