The geographic feature was named for Colonel John Hunt Skeggs, (US Army ret.), who served in World War I. On returning from the war, he worked as California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 4 engineer from roughly 1919 until his retirement in 1952. Skeggs was a high-profile factor in early Caltrans District 4 project work building US 101, SR 35, SR 152 through Pacheco Pass, the Waldo Tunnel, the Altamont Pass (then US 50 and now part of I-580), as well as a pre-1952 El Camino Real widening project. Before the war, he worked for the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, (DWP).