"No going to America".
So...
And my recent very silly pet theory that Orlando had something to do with naming or being named after the place in Florida seems to have been blown to bits by Wiki...or was it?
Prior to being known by its current name, Orlando was once known as Jernigan. This name originates from the first permanent settlers, Issac and Aaron Jernigan, cattlemen who acquired land two miles northwest of Fort Gatlin along the west end of Lake Holden in July 1843 by the terms of the Armed Occupation Act.[18][19][19] Aarron Jernigan became Orange County's first State Representative in 1845 but his pleas for additional military protection went unanswered. Fort Gatlin was briefly reoccupied by the military for a few weeks during October and November 1849 and subsequently a volunteer militia was left to defend the settlement.[19] A historical marker indicates that by 1850 the Jernigan homestead (or Fort Gatlin in some sources)[20] served as the nucleus of a village named Jernigan.[21] According to an account written years later by his daughter, at that time, about 80 settlers were forced to shelter for about a year in "a stockade that Aaron Jernigan built on the north side of Lake Conway". One of the county's first records, a grand jury's report, mentions a stockade where it states homesteaders were ``driven from their homes and forced to huddle together in hasty defences [sic]." Aaron Jernigan led a local volunteer militia during 1852.[19]
Jernigan appears on an 1855 map of Florida and by 1856 the area had become the county seat of Orange County.[22][16] It is known for certain that the area was renamed Orlando in 1857.[19] The move is believed to be sparked, in part, by Aaron Jernigan's fall from grace after he was relieved of his militia command by military officials in 1856. His behavior was so notorious that Secretary of War Jefferson Davis wrote, "It is said they [Jernigan's militia] are more dreadful than the Indians."[23] In 1859, Jernigan and his sons were accused of committing a murder at the towns post office. They were then transported to Ocala but escaped.[21]
There are at least five stories as to how Orlando got its name. The most common stories are that the name Orlando originated from the tale of a man who died in 1835 during a attack by Native Americans in the area during the Second Seminole War. Several of the stories relay an oral history of the marker for a person named Orlando, and the double entendre, "Here lies Orlando." One variant includes a man named Orlando who was passing by on his way to Tampa with a herd of ox, died, and was buried in a marked grave.[24] At a meeting in 1857, debate had grown concerning the name of the town. Pioneer William B. Hull recalled how James Speer (a local resident, and prominent figure in the stories behind the naming of Orlando) rose in the heat of the argument and said, "This place is often spoken of as 'Orlando's Grave.' Let's drop the word 'grave' and let the county seat be Orlando."[20][23]
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