 The Ohlone called the creek Shistuk, meaning "place of rabbits".However, an alternate point of view disputes this name (the Ohlone in all of the documented Ohlone languages the word for rabbit is weren or some variation thereof and therefore, place of rabbits would be Weren-tak); rather the closest word to Shis-tak would be
Čéeyiš = jackrabbit in Chocheño, therefore Place of the Jackrabbits (Hares) would be Čéeyiš-tak.The creek was known as Arroyo de las Penitencia, named after the Penitencia adobe house which stood at the highway and was used as a house of confession and penitence in mission times.