The name "Bouquet" is the name of the Californian historic ranch established upland from the crossing of Bouquet Canyon Road and 'Newhall' Ranch Road, and founded by a French vacher who landed in California off a Spanish ship. Buque is Spanish for "ship" and bouquet derives from the ranch's French origins.[1][2] Bouquet Ranch is the only section of historic St. Francis ranch that was legally parceled off and continued under the terms of the Protocol of Querétaro, specified in the Californian Constitution, before agents of the Northeastern Establishment were sent West to take control of lands and cities in the wake of the American Civil War.
The canyon is nicknamed the "Hangman's Canyon" or "Dead Man's Canyon", after an event in the Castaic Range War where a young cowboy was lynched.[3][4]