It is thought that Christopher Columbus, the first European to see the islands in 1493, named the larger island , after Saint Christopher, his patron saint and that of travellers. New studies suggest that Columbus named the island  (Saint James), and that the name  was in fact given by Columbus to the island now known as Saba,  northwest. No matter the origin of the name, the island was well documented as  by the 17th century. The first English colonists kept the English translation of this name, and dubbed it ''St. Christopher's Island''. In the 17th century, a common nickname for Christopher was ''Kit(t)''; hence, the island came to be informally referred to as ''Saint Kitt's Island'', later further shortened to ''Saint Kitts''.