My Town: A little history behind the Poway name

The name Poway originates from a Kumeyaay Indian word that apparently had various meanings ranging from “meeting place of the valleys” to “meeting of the waters.” Another possible derivation was the “point of a stone spear.” The former makes sense from the standpoint that some of the largest indigenous village locations were close to where Poway Creek and Rattlesnake Creek merged near the present day Community Park. Another village site was located along Poway Road near Beeler Creek Trail and Cobblestone Creek Road where Beeler Creek (originally spelled Buehler) and Poway Creek merge.

Whatever the original meaning, the name, with numerous “Europeanizations” has been found in early records dating back to at least 1839 and even 1774. While Poway was never a part of any Spanish or Mexican land grant, a map of the Rancho San Bernardo grant does show a creek line to the southeast with the word “Paguay” or “Paquay.” Whatever the meaning, the spelling and pronunciation have a long and interesting history.

To date, I have identified at least 12 different spellings of our fair city’s name: Paguay, Paguai, Pauai, Pauaii, Paui, Pauy, Powai, Powaii, Paua, Paquai, Paquay and finally Poway. In the earliest attempts to put the word in print, there seems to have been an effort to put a hard “K” or “G” sound before the ending “eye” such as “Pa-gwah-e.” This is not pure conjecture on my part but receives some validity from studies by Chalmers Scott, a noted linguist, and when compared to present day Kumeyaay pronunciations of many native words.

The pronunciation of the ending being “EYE” is easier to pin down. Many Kumeyaay and other indigenous place names end this way: Otay, Guatay, Mataguay, Havasupai, Ipai and so on. Further evidence as to the pronunciation as “POW’-eye” comes from a poem written in the 1890s by Robert McGregor. The first two lines only rhyme if you pronounce it Pow-eye:

Come with me ’neath the deep blue sky

Out to old Poway,

Come while fleecy clouds float by

Out to Old Poway

A longtime and passionate advocate of pronouncing the name Pow-eye was Victoria Michaels, a longtime Poway school teacher who corrected anyone who dared to say “Pow-way.” As a side note of interest, off of Twin Peaks Road between Midland and Community roads is Victoria Estates Lane, named for Victoria (Vicki) Michaels by her husband, Al Michaels, who subdivided the property.

The present day spelling of Poway as “Poway” was finally set in stone when in 1870, the first post office was established with Castanos Paine as the first postmaster.

My thanks to the late Mary van Dam whose book, “As I Remember Poway,” was the source of much of this information. The book is available, I believe, at the Poway Historical Society’s museum in “Old Pow-eye.”

Emery retired from the City Council last year after serving 28 years. He can be reached at powaybob@cox.net.