A handful of 'Geronimo's are named for Goyathlay [the Native American's real name] but not here. Most in the West and Southwest, like ours, were named before he was born or at least before he was even known by this 'handle'. Our town and all "San Geronimo"s were named in honor of the early Christian father by settlers of Spanish descent like Texas hero José Antonio Navarro who no one disputes named nearby San Geronimo Creek which ran through his ranch.
Some wrongly say Saint Jerome 'wrote' the 'first Bible,' and of course he did not. He did, however, join the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament for the first time and translated both into Latin. His great labor, this Bible known as The Vulgate Bible, is still in print today, 1,600 years later.
Jerome's Vulgate was nearly the only Bible 'Europeans' had until Gutenberg's printing press in the1450s. To put his contribution into perspective for us, his Vulgate was the 'only' Bible used for three times longer than the King James version has existed to date. Just as the King James Bible was nearly the only Bible of our own American birth and development, the Vulgate was nearly the only bible of the birth and development of the European continent!
Jerome's, (or Geronimo's) contribution to mankind is most worthy of the honor of our town's naming.
More Geronimo history links:
More Geronimo history
Even more Geronimo history
Why did people call the Indian 'Geronimo?'