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Here is a comparison of the etymologies of the words "California" and "califourchon":

California

• The name derives from a 16th century Spanish romance novel "Las Sergas de Esplandián" by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.
• In the novel, there is a fictional island paradise called "California" populated by Black Amazons and ruled by Queen Calafia.
• The name is likely a Spanish rendering of the words "cali" meaning "hot" and "forno" meaning "furnace" - so "California" may have meant "hot furnace."
• When Spanish explorers reached the peninsula of Baja California in 1535, they applied the name from the novel to the peninsula.

Califourchon

• This French word means "astride" or "sitting across something."
• It derives from the Old French words "ca li fourche" meaning literally "with the fork."
• The "fourche" refers to a forked piece of wood used as a saddle when riding across or astride something.
• So the etymology relates to the imagery of straddling or sitting across a forked object like the base of a tree branch.

So in summary, while "California" has an exotic fictional etymology relating to a mythical island paradise, "califourchon" has a more mundane etymology rooted in the pragmatics of riding or sitting astride a forked object or saddle.