 According to the toponomastic scholar, Erwin Gudde, "little" often refers to a place name when it is near to a larger geographic feature, in this case Little Rock Creek being close to Big Rock Creek

The fifth Pacific Railroad Survey led by Lt. Robert Stockton Williamson and Colonel John Parke visited Little Rock Creek in 1853, as they surveyed the north slope of the San Gabriel Mountains.The first non-native settlement in the area was Santiago García, who was born circa 1833.He built an adobe on the north side of Little Rock Creek approximately to the east of where the creek turned from north to east near Totem Pole Ranch.