The city of Orlando was not originally named Orlando. On the contrary, our dear city was named “Jernigan” after the first family that settled here. As of 1850, the city was named Jernigan. However in 1857, the name changed to Orlando. Why?
No one really knows. There are four stories of where the name “Orlando” came from.
The first story is that Judge James Speer, who helped Orlando gain the county seat, named the city after a friend of his. The second story is that Judge James Speer named the city for a character in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”.The third story is that Mr. Orlando was on his way to Tampa with ox and he died of a sickness. He was buried here therefore people would come through this area and say “Here lies Orlando” and the name stuck.
The final story is that there was a group of soldiers battling Indians during the Seminole Wars. The soldiers battled the Indians to the swamps on the east side of Lake Minnie and the soldiers decided to settle for the night. Sentinel Orlando Reeves was guarding the camp and saw a log floating toward him. Orlando noticed this was an Indian disguise and so he fired his gun to warn his fellow soldiers. The Indians ambushed the camp and took Orlando down with arrows. After the group of soldiers battled the Indians back into the swamps, they buried Orlando Reeves on the south side of Lake Eola.
We hope you enjoyed a little history about the city we love.
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Wikipedia cites the following as the birth of Orlando’s naming:
Historians date Orlando’s name to around 1837, when a soldier named Orlando Reeves allegedly died in the area during the Second Seminole War. It seems, however, that Orlando Reeves (sometimes Rees) operated a sugar mill and plantation about 30 miles (50 km) to the north at Spring Garden in Volusia County, and pioneer settlers simply found his name carved into a tree and assumed it was a marker for his grave site. They then referred to the area as “Orlando’s grave” and later simply Orlando. A memorial beside Lake Eola designates the spot where the city’s namesake fell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando,_Florida
Shoulda been called “Borlando!” LOL! No, there are some interesting things in this city – you just have to search for them.