 In texts from the middle ages the town is called "Vallisoletum", meaning "sunny valley", and a person from the town is a "Vallisoletano (male), o Vallisoletana (female)".The city is also popularly called "Pucela", a nickname whose origin is not clear, but may refer to knights in the service of Joan of Arc, known as La Pucelle.Another theory is that "Pucela" comes from the fact that Pozzolana cement was sold there, the only city in Spain that sold it.