Napa County is a
county located north of the
San Francisco Bay Area in the
U.S. state of
California. It is coterminous with the
Napa, California,
Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The
county seat is
Napa. Napa County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county's territory were given to
Lake County in 1861. The word napa is of
Native American derivation and has been variously translated as "
grizzly bear", "house", "motherland", and "fish". Of the many explanations of the name's origin, the most plausible seems to be that it is derived from the
Patwin word napo meaning house, although local residents will often cite an urban legend that gives the translation as "you will always return".