Aguada, originally San Francisco de Asís de la Aguada, is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located in the western coastal valley region bordering the Atlantic Ocean, east of Rincón, west of Aguadilla and Moca; and north of Añasco and Mayagüez. It is part of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area. Aguada's population is spread over 17 barrios and Aguada Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city).
The name Aguada is a shortening of the town's original name San Francisco de Asís de la Aguada. The word aguada literally translates to "watery" or "watered down" from Spanish, possibly a reference to the town's strategic importance as a port in the Mona Passage and the Atlantic Ocean.
The municipality has many nicknames: La Villa de Sotomayor ("Sotomayor's Villa") is a reference to one of the town's Spanish founders, Cristóbal de Sotomayor; La Ciudad del Descubrimiento ("City of the Discovery") is a reference to the possibility that Christopher Columbus first landed in Puerto Rico at what is today the municipality's territory; El Pueblo Playero translates to "the beach town" and La Ciudad del Vaticano ("the Vatican's City") which references the town's early importance for Catholicism in the island.
