When the Santé Fe Railroad built its line in 1881, the station was placed on the Texas side and named La Tuna, which is Spanish for “prickly pear cactus”. A Spanish-speaking woman named Sabrina, who had a chapel on the New Mexico side which was dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, insisted on the name Anthony rather than La Tuna for the new town.
Source: Tarpley, Fred (5 July 2010).