Newport Bay, in
Southern California, United States, is the lower bay formed along the coast below the
Upper Newport Bay, after the end of the
Pleistocene. It was formed by sand, brought by ocean currents from the
Santa Ana River and other rivers to the north, which constructed an offshore beach, now called the
Balboa Peninsula.[1] The bay was named by the Spanish Bolsa de Gengar in the 18th century, to refer to the nearby
Tongva and
Acjachemen village of
Genga.[2] An estuary of the Santa Ana River in the late 19th century, it was dredged to form Newport Harbor, the harbor of
Newport Beach.[1][3][4]