According to legend, having to happen one day the Gothic king Recaredo, for the street of the "Cava" that to the season was in those days a covered rill of undergrowth, the neighbors gave fire to the brambles and between the flames, some cross of wood appeared without damage, after this fact, the village started be call Santa Cruz entre Zarzas, evolving later to the name that today has. Other sources affirm that the origin of the name of Santa Cruz de la Zarza can come from its geographical situation placed between two valleys and between these two valleys there was a mountain of bramble patches.