 The use of the name Tamyen is on record as early as 1777, it comes from the Ohlone name for the location of the first Mission Santa Clara (Mission Santa Clara de Thamien) on the Guadalupe River.Father Pena mentioned in a letter to Junipero Serra that the area around the mission was called "Thamien" by the native people.The missionary fathers erected the mission on January 17, 1777 at the native village of So-co-is-u-ka.