The way Coloradans pronounce ‘Buena Vista’ was a deliberate choice

DENVER (KDVR) — Many cities, towns and streets in Colorado take inspiration from the Spanish language, including the state name itself. Some of these place names are pronounced the same — or at least similarly — to the original Spanish words or phrases, while others are not.

Among the places with altered pronunciations , one stands out to many: Buena Vista.

The town of Buena Vista is located in Chaffee County and was first founded in 1879. As of 2020, it had a population of just over 2,800 people.

For those who have never heard a Coloradan say the name, it is pronounced “Bew-nah Vista,” with the first syllable of “Buena” pronounced more like the first syllable of the English word “beautiful.”

Turns out, this “mispronunciation” was a deliberate choice made when the town was founded in the late 19th Century, according to the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce.

The choice to call it “Bew-nah” Vista

“Buena vista” literally translates to “good view” in Spanish. The word “buena” in Spanish is correctly pronounced as “bway-nah.”

According to the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce, the woman who suggested the name and pronunciation, Alisina Dearheimer, knew how the word was supposed to be pronounced, but she insisted the word be Americanized.

The way to do this, she suggested, was to swap out the first syllable from beautiful — “bew” — at the start of Buena. This ended up being the most popular choice, and Buena Vista was born.

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