What Does Anaheim Hills Mean? The History Behind the Name
This guide explains where the Anaheim Hills name comes from, when it first appears in the record, and how much of its “meaning” the historical sources actually support.
Quick answer. “Anaheim Hills” is the name of a planned community initially created from the former Nohl Ranch, documented by 1970 and later expanded through additional annexed ranch lands, so it is a development name rather than an old place name with its own separate translation.1 The “Anaheim” part carries the documented meaning “home by the Santa Ana River,” from “Ana” for the Santa Ana River and the German “heim” for home.4 The “Hills” part is plain English describing the foothills east of the city.
Updated October 2026. In short, the name refers to the hilly eastern extension of Anaheim, which by 1970 was being used for a master-planned community. The sources record which company received the land for that community, but they do not say who coined the name.1
| Question | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| What does the name mean | “Anaheim” means home by the Santa Ana River; “Hills” is ordinary English geography |
| Earliest documentation cited here | In use by October 30, 1970, in connection with the Nohl Ranch transfer |
| Who named it | Not documented; the 1970 deed went to Santa Anita Consolidated, Inc. for a community to be named Anaheim Hills |
| Earlier local name | A 1988 Los Angeles Times account reports that at least part of the area had previously been called “Robbers’ Peak.” |
What does Anaheim Hills mean, in plain terms?
The name breaks into two parts that have different origins. “Anaheim” is a compound word, and city-hosted Anaheim cultural-resources material records it as “Ana,” taken from the nearby Santa Ana River, joined to the German word “heim,” meaning home.4 Put together, the documented reading is “home by the Santa Ana River.”
“Hills” is the simpler half. No authoritative source in the record assigns it a special meaning in Spanish, German, or any Native language. It is English descriptive wording for the foothills where the community sits, east of Anaheim’s older flatland core.
That split matters when you read the name as a whole. The full phrase is not an ancient place name that someone translated. It is a modern label built by adding a geographic word to an existing city name.
- Anaheim: “Ana” from the Santa Ana River plus German “heim,” meaning home
- Hills: ordinary English, describing the foothill terrain east of the city
- The combined name dates to a 1970 planned community, not to an older settlement
Who named Anaheim Hills, and in what year?
The name is documented in connection with the Nohl Ranch, which became the land on which the community was built. On October 30, 1970, roughly 4,200 acres of the Nohl Ranch were deeded to Santa Anita Consolidated, Inc., with the stated intention of creating a new planned community called Anaheim Hills.1 That account comes from the Orange County Historical Society.
The record shows the name was in use by that date, but it does not say who coined it. Santa Anita Consolidated, Inc. is documented as the company that received the land for the planned community, not as the author of the name. By August 1971, a joint venture of Texaco Ventures, Inc. and Anaheim Hills, Inc. had been deeded the property for residential development, and the first neighborhood, Westridge, opened in July 1972 and sold all 325 of its homes by early 1975.1
The City of Anaheim’s historical narrative is consistent with Anaheim Hills taking shape as a new master-planned community east of the city, and a city-hosted council-record appendix dates the annexation of the original roughly 4,200-acre site to 1971. That appendix should be treated as a secondary account, not as a city-authored historical finding.23 The city’s historical narrative places the development among the master-planned communities that took shape in the hills east of the established city between the 1950s and 1980s.2
Was the area called something else before 1970?
Yes, at least informally. A Los Angeles Times account published in 1988 reports that at least part of the area had previously been called “Robbers’ Peak,” and it describes how one part of the hills was later “tagged Anaheim Hills, A Planned Community.”7 That is evidence that an earlier informal local name was reportedly in use before the development branding arrived.
What the newspaper account does not do is provide the full name, its etymology, or the name of the person who picked it. It supports the existence of the older “Robbers’ Peak” name and the later development label, and it is consistent with the 1970 record rather than contradicting it.
The safer reading is that an older informal hill-country name was later displaced by the Anaheim Hills development label; the records cited here do not map that earlier name to a precise modern street boundary.
Where do the sources disagree about the name?
The main tension is about what kind of event the 1970 naming was. The Orange County Historical Society ties the planned-community name to the 1970 land transfer.1 The Los Angeles Times instead describes “Anaheim Hills” as a development label used publicly during the later construction period.7
Those are not necessarily in conflict. One shows the name attached to the 1970 land transfer, and the other shows the name used in public afterward. I am flagging it rather than smoothing it over, because the honest answer is that both are true at different moments.
Where the sources genuinely fall silent is on the human author. None of the records located—the Historical Society account, the city documents, or the newspaper—identify a specific resident, developer, official, or community group who coined the phrase. If you want certainty on the individual namer, treat the Orange County Historical Society as a secondary historical lead, check City of Anaheim records for planning and annexation material, and use the Orange County Clerk-Recorder for recorded deed documents.9
- No individual is named as the person who coined “Anaheim Hills”
- No source gives “Hills” a non-English meaning
- The records located document the planned-community name, but they do not state a formal naming rationale
How does the name connect to how people buy here today?
Understanding that “Anaheim Hills” is a 1970 development brand, not an old independent town, explains why it is part of the City of Anaheim rather than its own city. A city-hosted secondary account dates the annexation of the original roughly 4,200-acre site to 1971,3 and Anaheim later annexed the Bauer, Oak Hills, and Wallace ranches in the mid-1980s, adding about 1,300 more acres.1 That is why city services and zoning run through Anaheim. Property tax bills are mailed and collected through the Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, not the City of Anaheim.8
It also explains why the name covers a widespread area of distinct pockets. Individual tracts under the Anaheim Hills umbrella can differ in lot size, home age, and whether an HOA applies, so a buyer should evaluate the specific parcel and governing documents rather than relying on the name alone. The single brand hides real variation on the ground.
That history has a practical edge too. Some hillside and wildland-adjacent parcels in east Anaheim may be mapped within High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, so verify the specific address in the official viewer rather than treating the Anaheim Hills name as the zone determination.5 That can relate to the hillside and wildland-adjacent terrain the name describes, but the official zone determination should be verified parcel by parcel with the responsible agencies and your insurance carrier before you commit.
- It is part of the City of Anaheim, not a separate city
- One brand covers many tracts with different lot sizes and home ages
- Hillside parcels may fall in mapped fire hazard zones, so verify each one
How To Move Forward
- Read the name correctly: “Anaheim” means “home by the Santa Ana River,” and “Hills” refers to the foothills; the combined name is a 1970 development brand.
- Go to the right record keeper: use the Orange County Clerk-Recorder for recorded deed documents,9 City of Anaheim records for annexation and planning context, and the Orange County Historical Society as a secondary historical lead.
- Treat the brand as a map, not a measurement: each tract under the Anaheim Hills name differs, so look at the specific parcel.
- Verify hazard mapping early: confirm the fire hazard zone for any hillside parcel in the official city or CAL FIRE viewer, then get an address-specific insurance quote before you rely on it.
Curious about the hills, or thinking about a move within them?
Whether you just want to understand the area or you already own a home here and want to talk about your options, Wendy can walk you through the specific tract that matters to you.
Call (714) 746-6355 Contact WendyWendy Rawley, REALTOR® | First Team Real Estate | CA DRE #01898824
Common questions about the Anaheim Hills name and history
What does the word Anaheim actually mean?
City-hosted Anaheim cultural-resources material records “Anaheim” as a compound of “Ana,” from the nearby Santa Ana River, and the German word “heim,” meaning home. Read together, it means home by the Santa Ana River.4
Does Hills in Anaheim Hills have a special meaning?
No authoritative source in the record gives “Hills” a special meaning from Spanish, German, or a Native language. It is ordinary English geographic wording describing the foothills east of the older part of the city.
When was Anaheim Hills named?
The name is documented in connection with the October 30, 1970 transfer of about 4,200 acres of the Nohl Ranch to Santa Anita Consolidated, Inc., for a new planned community called Anaheim Hills.1 A city-hosted secondary account describes the original roughly 4,200-acre site as annexed by Anaheim in 1971.3
Who came up with the name Anaheim Hills?
The sources located do not say who coined it. The Orange County Historical Society account says the Nohl Ranch land was deeded to Santa Anita Consolidated, Inc. with the intent to create a planned community named Anaheim Hills.1
Was the area known by a different name before?
A 1988 Los Angeles Times account reports that at least part of the area had previously been called “Robbers’ Peak” before it was branded as Anaheim Hills during the development period. That supports an earlier local name without changing the 1970 naming account.7
Is Anaheim Hills its own city?
No. Anaheim Hills is part of the City of Anaheim. A city-hosted account dates the annexation of the original roughly 4,200-acre site to 1971,3, and later annexations in the mid-1980s added more land,1 so city services and zoning run through Anaheim.
Wendy Rawley
REALTOR® | DRE #01898824
Wendy helps buyers and owners tell the many distinct tracts under the Anaheim Hills name apart through First Team Real Estate, and she can be reached at (714) 746-6355.
From 2012 to 2026, the Wendy Rawley Team closed 171 seller-side and 102 buyer-side transactions, according to the team’s CRMLS closed-transaction records.6 These figures reflect prior closed transactions and do not guarantee future results.
Sources
1 Orange County Historical Society, “The Community of Anaheim Hills”
Documents the October 30, 1970 transfer of about 4,200 acres of the Nohl Ranch to Santa Anita Consolidated, Inc., for a planned community named Anaheim Hills, the August 1971 Texaco Ventures joint venture, the July 1972 opening of Westridge, and the mid-1980s annexation of the Bauer, Oak Hills and Wallace ranches.
2 City of Anaheim, “The 1950s-1980s”
City historical narrative describing the master-planned communities that developed in the hills east of the established city.
3 City of Anaheim records, meeting document
City-hosted council-record appendix containing a secondary historical account of the roughly 4,200-acre East Anaheim site that became Anaheim Hills and its 1971 annexation.
4 City of Anaheim, cultural-resources document
Records the meaning of “Anaheim” as “Ana” from the Santa Ana River plus the German “heim” for home.
5 CAL FIRE / OSFM, Fire Hazard Severity Zones
Official CAL FIRE/OSFM Fire Hazard Severity Zone resource; verify any Anaheim Hills parcel by address in the official viewer or the City of Anaheim map.
6 California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS)
The Wendy Rawley Team’s own CRMLS closed-transaction records (2012 to 2026) are the source of the stated counts of 171 seller-side and 102 buyer-side closed transactions; the records are available on request. Prior closed transactions do not guarantee future results.
7 Los Angeles Times, “Anaheim Hills: Focus: The Hills Are Alive in Anaheim” (1988)
1988 newspaper account referencing the earlier “Robbers’ Peak” name and the later Anaheim Hills development label.
8 Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector
County office that mails and collects secured and unsecured property tax bills.
9 Orange County Clerk-Recorder
County office that records and provides access to recorded documents such as deeds.
This article provides historical and general information about the origin of the name Anaheim Hills. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not guarantee any outcome. For legal questions, consult a real estate attorney; for tax questions, consult your CPA; and for financing questions, consult a licensed mortgage loan originator.
Historical details may change as new records are reviewed. Verify fire hazard mapping, zoning, and any parcel-specific facts with the City of Anaheim and your insurer before relying on them. Any mention of commissions is a reminder that commissions are negotiable.
Wendy Rawley, REALTOR, The Wendy Rawley Team at First Team Real Estate, California DRE #01898824, (714) 746-6355. Equal Housing Opportunity.
