The Daily Californian has its roots in The College Echo, published by the Durant Rhetorical Society at the College of California before the founding of the University of California. The society continued the publication after the formation of the university and the move to the Berkeley campus site as The University Echo. The Neolaean Literary Society began the Neolaean Review in March 1873, and the two publications merged in January 1874 as The Berkeleyan. There was a gap in the publication from 1888 thorough 1892; a new series of The Berkeleyan was begun in 1893 The named was changed to The Californian in 1897, and in October of that same year it became the Daily Californian.

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