He's the patron saint of Spain, but if you count up the streets named after him, he might also be the patron saint of Orange County. There's a Santiago Street in Santa Ana, a Santiago Boulevard in Orange, even a Santiago Way in Anaheim.

Phil Brigandi says, "There's lots of different uses of the Santiago name because it's one of the oldest names in Orange County."

Brigandi wrote "Orange County Place Names A-Z." He says, "It
was actually applied in 1769 by the first Spanish overland expedition under Portola. And one of their campsites was along the creek, what they named Santiago Creek in Orange."

Santiago, or Saint Iago, is Saint James, the apostle who wanted to sit at the right hand of Jesus, a request that was politely ignored. James was assigned to convert Spain to Christianity, but legend has it he only baptized half-dozen new Christians. His bad luck continued when he returned to the Holy Land and was beheaded. His body was returned to Spain, where pilgrims from all over the world visit even today.

(Airdate: 7/20/2008)