What does “Boca Raton” actually mean?
The name Boca Raton is often translated from Spanish as “mouth of the rat,” but the real story is more complicated. The term “Boca de Ratones” was used as a navigational term associated with a rocky or troublesome inlet. Even more interesting, the original Boca de Ratones was not located where Boca Raton is today. Eighteenth-century maps placed it farther south in the area of Biscayne Bay near present-day Miami. Over time, mapmakers gradually shifted the name north. An 1839 map even showed versions of Boca Raton in two places at once—one near Biscayne Bay and another associated with present-day Lake Boca Raton. Eventually, the name became permanently connected with our area.
Early residents also sometimes spelled the community “Boca Ratone.” The extra “e” was used to encourage the pronunciation residents preferred. When the town first incorporated in 1924, it used the Boca Ratone spelling before officially becoming Boca Raton in 1925. So while “mouth of the rat” makes for a memorable quick answer, the fuller story involves Spanish navigation, changing maps, pronunciation, and what appears to have been a centuries-old mapmaking error.
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