List of place names in Canada of Aboriginal origin

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This list of place names in Canada of Aboriginal origin contains Canadian places whose names originate from the words of the First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, collectively referred to as Aboriginal peoples in Canada. When possible the original word or phrase used by Aboriginals is included, along with its generally believed meaning.

The name Canada itself is believed to have originated around 1535 from a Huron-Iroquoian word, kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement" or "collection of huts",^{[#endnote_CdnHeritage]} referring to Stadacona, a settlement on the site of present-day Quebec City; another contemporary meaning was "land".^{[#endnote_Rayburn1]}

In other Iroquoian languages, the words for "town" or "village" are similar: the Mohawk use nekantaa, the Seneca iennekanandaa, and the Onondaga use ganataje.^{[#endnote_Rayburn2]}

Contents

Provinces and territories

Saskatchewan: Derived from the Cree name for the Saskatchewan River, Kisiskatchewani Sipi, meaning "swift flowing river".
Manitoba: Either derived from the Cree word maniot-wapow meaning "the straight of the spirit or manitobau" or the Assiniboine words mini and tobow meaning "Lake of the Prairie", referring to Lake Manitoba.
Nunavut: "Our land" in Inuktitut.
Ontario: Derived from the Huron word onitariio meaning "beautiful lake", or kanadario meaning "sparkling" or "beautiful" water.
Quebec: Derived from the Algonquin word kebek which means "narrow passage" or "strait".
Yukon: "Great river" from the word LoYu-kun-ah of the Gwichʼin.

Alberta

Amisk: "Beaver" in Cree.
Athabasca River, Lake Athabasca, Athabasca Falls, Mount Athabasca, Athabasca: "Where there are reeds" in Cree.
Chinook: See Chinook.
Medicine Hat: Translation of the Blackfoot word saamis, meaning "headdress of a medicine man".
Wetaskiwin: "Place of peace" or "hill of peace" in Cree.

British Columbia

A-B

Ahnuhati River: "where the humpback salmon go" in Kwak'wala (humpback salmon are also known as pink salmon)
Ahousat: "facing opposite the ocean" in Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka).
Aiyansh and New Aiyansh: "early leaves" or "leafing early" in the Nisga'a language
Akamina Pass: "mountain pass" in Ktunaxa (Kootenay)
Akie River: "cut-bank river" in Dunne-za
Amiskwi River: "beaver trail" in Cree
Anyox: "place of hiding" in Nisga'a.
Ashnola River: thought to mean "place of trading" in Okanagan
Askom Mountain: "mountain" in St'at'imcets (the Lillooet language)
Atchelitz: "bottom" in Halqemeylem, possibly because this locality and the creek of the same name is at the bottom of Chilliwack Mountain.
Atlin: "big lake" in Inland Tlingit
Atna Range: "strangers" or "other people" in Carrier.
Atnarko River: "river of strangers" in Chilcotin
Attachie: the name of a Beaver Indian whose descendants are members of the nearby Doig River First Nation
Bella Coola: Named for the usual term for the local First Nation, who call themselves Nuxalk. Bella Coola is an adaption of /bəlxwəla/, the Heiltsuk name for the Nuxalk; their meaning is not limited to the band at Bella Coola but to all Nuxalk.
Bella Bella: This is an adaption of the Heiltsuk name the First Nations people at this town use for themselves, /pəlbálá/.

C

Cariboo: from Algonquin xalibu via French cariboeuf or carfboeuf: "pawer" or "scratcher". A mountain subspecies of caribou were once numerous in the Cariboo.
Carmanah Creek, Carmanah Valley, Carmanah Point: "thus far upstream" in the Nitinaht dialect of Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth).
Cassiar: a remote adaptation of Kaska, definition debatable, but possibly "old moccasins".
Caycuse River: from the Nitinaht dialect of Nootka, meaning "place where they fix up canoes".
Cayoosh Creek: Cayoosh is a Lillooet-area variant of cayuse, originally from the Spanish caballo - "horse", although in Lillooet and the Chilcotin this word specifies a particular breed of Indian mountain pony. There are two versions of the name's meaning. In one account, someone's pony dropped dead in or at the creek after an arduous journey over the pass at the head of its valley. In the other, the crest of standing waves in the rushing waters of the creek are said to resemble bucking horses and their manes.
Celista, British Columbia: from the Secwepemc chiefly and family name Celesta, common in the nearby community of Neskonlith near Chase.
Chaba Peak: from the Stoney language word for "beaver".
Chantslar Lake: from the Chilcotin language wofd for "steelhead lake"
Cheakamus River: Squamish language for "salmon weir place".
Cheam: Halqemeylem for "(place to) always get strawberries". The Halqemeylem term refers to an island across from the present-day reserve and village. This name is used in English for Mount Cheam (Cheam Peak), the most prominent of the Four Sisters Range east of Chilliwack, which in Halqemeylem is called Thleethleq (the name of Mount Baker's wife, turned to stone).
Checleset Bay: from the Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth word for "people of cut on the beach".
Cheewat River: from the Nitinaht dialect of Nuu-chah-nulth for "having an island nearby".
Cheekye River and the locality of Cheekye near Squamish: Squamish language name for Mount Garibaldi, meaning "dirty place" in reference to that mountain's ash-stained snows
Chehalis and Chehalis River: probable meanings vary from "the place one reaches after ascending the rapids" or "where the 'chest' of a canoe grounds on a sandbar'. The sandbar or rapids in question would be the old "riffles" of the Harrison River where it empties into the Fraser River out of Harrison Bay (the riffles were dredged out in gold rush times)
Chemainus: Named after the native shaman and prophet Tsa-meeun-is, which means "Broken Chest" or "bitten breast"(Halkemeylem language), a reference to the bitemarks possible during a shamanic frenzy, which the local horseshoe-shaped bay is thought to have resembled.
Cheslatta Lake: "top of small mountain" or "small rock mountain at east side" in the Carrier language
Chezacut: "birds without feathers" in the Chilcotin language.
Chic Chic Bay: Tshik-tshik, under various spellings, is the Chinook Jargon for a wagon or wheeled vehicle.
Chikamin Range: Chickamin, as usually spelled, is "metal" or "ore" in the Chinook Jargon, often meaning simply "gold"
Chilako River: "beaver hand river" in the Carrier language
Chilanko River: "many beaver river" in the Chilcotin language
Chilcotin River: "ochre river people" in the Chilcotin language
Chilkat Pass: "salmon storehouse" in the Tlingit language
Chilko River: "ochre river" in the Chilcotin language
Chilliwack: "Going back up" in Halqemeylem. Other translations are "quieter water on the head" or "travel by way of a backwater of slough", all a reference to the broad marshlands and sloughs of the Chilliwack area, which lies between the Fraser River's many side-channels and Sumas Prairie (much of formerly Sumas Lake). Older spellings are Chilliwhack, Chilliwayhook, Chil-whey-uk, Chilwayook, and Silawack.
Chinook Cove: on the North Thompson River, a reference to the Chinook salmon rather than to the language, wind or people of the same name.
Choelquoit Lake: "fishtrap lake" in the Chilcotin language
Chonat Bay: "where coho salmon are found" in Kwak'wala
Chu Chua: the plural of the Secwepemc language word for "creek".
Chuckwalla River: "short river" in Oowekyala. The nearby Kilbella River means "long river".
Chutine River: "half-people" in either the Tlinkit or Tahltan languages. The area's population was half-Tlingit and half-Tahltan.
Cinnemousun Narrows Provincial Park: From the Secwepemc language cium-moust-un, meaning "come and go back again", sometimes translated as "the bend" (i.e. in Shuswap Lake)
Clayoquot Sound: an adaption of the Nuu-chah-nulth language Tla-o-qui-aht, which has a variety of translations: "other or different people", "other or strange house", "people who are different from what they used to be"; in Nitinaht the phrase translates as "people of the place where it becomes the smae even when disturbed".
Clo-oose: "campsite beach" in the Nitinaht dialect of Nuu-chah-nulth
Clusko River: "mud river" in the Chilcotin language
Cluxewe River: "delta or sand bar" in Kwak'wala
Coglistiko River: "stream coming from small jack-pine windfalls" in the Carrier language
Colquitz River: "waterfall" in North Straits Salish
Comiaken: "bare, devoid of vegetation" in Hunquminum
Comox: either from the Chinook Jargon for "dog" (kamuks), or from the [[Kwak'wala'' for "place of plenty".
Conuma Peak: "high, rocky peak" in the Nuu-chah-nulth language
Coqualeetza: "place of beating of blankets (to get them clean)" in Halkomelem
Coquihalla River: "stingy container" (of fish), a reference to black-coloured water spirits who would steal fish right off the spear
Coquitlam: "Small red salmon" in Salish. Derived from the name of the local branch of the Sto:lo people Khwayquitlam. Another and more usual translation is "stinking of fish slime" and "place of stinking fish".
Cowichan: from Quwutsun, "land warmed by teh sum" or "warm country" (Hunquminum)
Cultus: "bad, of no value, worthless" in Chinook jargon. In First Nations legend, this popular recreational lake south of Chilliwack was said to be inhabited by evil spirits.
Cumshewa Inlet, Cunshewa Head: Cumshewa was a prominent Haida chief in the late 19th Century, noted for the killing of the crew of the US trading vessel Constitution in 1794. His name means "rich at the mouth" (of the river".

E-M

Ealue Lake: "sky fish" in Tahltan.
Ecstall River: from the Tsimshian for "tributary" or "something from the side" (the Ecstall joins the Skeena River near Prince Rupert
Eddontenajon: "a little boy drowned" in Tahltan
Cape Edensaw: Edenshaw, in its modern spelling, remains an important name in modern Haida society, known mostly nowadays for the dynasty of famous carvers of that name, all descendants of the early 19th Century chief of this name, one of the powerful chiefs of Masset
Edziza, Mount: named after the Edzertza family of the Tahltan people, who live nearby.
Esquimalt: North Straits Salish for "the place of gradually shoaling water". Derived from their word Es-whoy-malth.

K-L

Kamloops: English translation of Shuswap word Tk'emlups, meaning "where the rivers meet".
Kelowna: "Grizzly bear" in the Okanagan language.
Keremeos
Kootenay: derived from the proper name of the Kootenay people, Ktunaxa
Lillooet: adapted from the proper name for the Lower St'at'imc people, the Lil'wat of Mt. Currie. Lil'wat means "wild onions". The old name of Lillooet was Cayoosh Flat (1858-1860), derived from the name of one of the streams converging into the Fraser at the town (cayoosh is the local variant of Chinook Jargon for "horse" or "Indian pony").

M-N

Malahat
Masset
Matsqui:
Metchosin: English translation of Smets-Schosen, meaning "place of stinking fish".
Nakusp
Nanaimo: Named after the Snuneymuxw people.

O-Q

Okanagan:
Osoyoos: "Narrowing of the waters".
Penticton: "Place to stay forever" in Salish.
Qualicum: "Where the dog salmon run" in Coast Salish.
Quilchena:

S

Saanich:
Sechelt: the town is named after the First Nations people who live in the area, the Shishalh
Shalalth: "the lake" in the St'at'imcets language of the Lillooet people
Sicamous
Skaha Lake: from the Okanagan language word for "dog" (sqexe)
Skidegate
Skookumchuck: "strong (skookum) ocean/water (chuck); that is: strong tide, strong ocean current, rapids" in Chinook jargon (three different locations - Sechelt Inlet, Lillooet River, Columbia River/East Kootenay).
Similkameen:
Sooke: named after the T'Souke First Nation people who live in the area
Spuzzum, from the local variant of the Chinook Jargon spatsum, a reed used in basketry
Squamish: The town is named after the First Nations people who live in the area
Stein River: Adjacent to Lytton BC, "Stein" is an adaptation of the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) staygn - "hidden place".

T

Taghum, British Columbia, taghum is the Chinook Jargon word for "six" (Taghum is six miles from Nelson
Tofino:
Tulameen: Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) language for "red earth", a reference to the ochre found here, which was highly prized for use in ceremonial life.
Tsawwassen: "Looking toward the sea" in Coast Salish
Tsilhqot'in or Chilcotin:
Tyhee Lake Provincial Park: Tyhee is a variant of the usual Chinook Jargon tyee - "chief, big, great, important, boss"

U-Z

Ucluelet: "Safe harbour" in the language of the Nuu-chah-nulth.
Whonnock
Yoho National Park - "Yoho" means "how amazing" or "it is beautiful"

Manitoba

Grand Rapids: Translation of Cree word misepawistik, meaning "rushing rapids".
Wapusk National Park
Winnipeg: "Dirty water" or "murky water" from the word win-nipi of the Cree.

New Brunswick

Kouchibouguac National Park (and River): Kouchibouguac means "river of the long tides" in Mi'kmaq.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Aguathuna: possibly derives from the Beothuk aguathoonet or aquathoont, "grindstone", imposed perhaps in the mistaken belief that it meant "white rock" for the limestone abundant in the area[link]
Kaipokok Bay: from Inuktitut, meaning "frothy water"[link]
Makkovik: Vik is the Inuktitut word for "place". Makko- may have one of the following origins:

it may be a corruption of the name Maarcoux, after Pierre Marcoux, a French trader in Labrador in the late 1700's[link]; or
from the Inuktitut maggok, "two"; thus Makkovik would mean "two places". Around Makkovik are two inlets, Makkovik Bay and Makkovik harbour, and two main brooks floating into the two inlets. "Two Buchten Machovik", meaning "two bays Makkovik", is mentioned in a 1775 writing by the German Moravian missionary Johann Ludwig Beck.[link]

Nunatsiavut: from Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land"[link]

Shannoc Brook: Joseph Beete Jukes, the Geological Surveyor of Newfoundland in 1839-1840, believed that Shannoc Brook, a tributary of the Exploits River, was given the Beothuk name for the Mi'kmaq[link].

Sheshatshiu: from Inuktitut, meaning "a narrow place in the river".[link]

Torngat Mountains: from the Inuktitut name for the region, turngait, meaning "spirits"; Inuit legends hold that here the spirit and physical worlds overlap.[link]

Wabana — from the Abanaki wabunaki, "east land" from wabun "dawn"; so named in 1895 by Colonel Thomas Cantley, president of the Nova Scotia Steel Company[link]

Wabush — from Innu wabush, "rabbit ground"[link]

Nova Scotia

Antigonish: Derivied from the Mi'kmaq word nalegitkoonechk, meaning "where branches are torn off".
Cobequid
Kejimkujik National Park: "Kejimkujik" has been translated as meaning "attempting to escape" or "swollen waters", but the park's official translation means "tired muscles".
Malagash
Merigomish
Musquodoboit
Pugwash: Derivied from the Mi'kmaq word pagweak, meaning "shallow water".
Shubenacadie
Stewiacke
Tatamagouche: Dervivied from the Mi'kmaq word takumegooch, meaning "meeting of the waters".
Tracadie
Whycocomagh

Northwest Territories

Aklavik
Aulavik National Park: Aulavik means "place where people travel" in Inuvialuktun.
Inuvik: "The place of man" in Inuvialuktun.
Somba K'e; the Dogrib name for Yellowknife means "where the money is".
Tuktoyaktuk: "resembling a caribou" in Inuvialuktun.
Tuktut Nogait National Park - Tuktut Nogait means "young cariboo" in Inuvialuktun.

Nunavut

Auyuittuq National Park - Auyuittuq means "the land that never melts".
Iqaluit: "fish" in Inuktitut.
Nahanni National Park Reserve et al. - Nahanni means "spirit" in Dene
Pangnirtung is derived from Pangniqtuuq: "thte place of many bull caribou"
Quttinirpaaq National Park - Quttinirpaaq means "top of the world" in Inuktitut.
Sirmilik National Park - Sirmilik means "the place of glaciers" in Inuktitut.
Ukkusiksalik National Park

Ontario

Algonquin Provincial Park: Named after the Algonquin (Anishinaabeg) people of Ontario.
Brantford: Named after Joseph Brant, a Mohawk leader.
Etobicoke: "The place where the alders grow" from the word wadoopikaang in Ojibwa.
Gananoque
Kanata
Kapuskasing
Manitoulin Island: Manitoulin means "spirit island" in the Ojibwe language.
Manitouwadge
Mattawa
M'Chigan
Michipicoten
Mississauga: Named after the Indian tribe of Mississauga
Mississippi River (between Ottawa and Mattawa)
Nipigon
Nipissing
Ohsweken
Oshawa: "Crossing of a stream" in Seneca.
Ottawa: "To buy" from the word adaawe in Algonquin and Ojibwa; adapted as the name of the Odawa people.
Penetanguishene
Petawawa
Pukaskwa National Park
Temagami: "Deep waters" from the word dimiigami of the Anishinaabe.
Toronto: "Place of meeting" from the word toronton in Huron (most probable).
Wahnapitae
Wawa
Wikwemikong

Quebec

Abitibi Region
Aguanish
Akpatok Island
Amqui
Arthabaska (and County)
Réservoir Cabonga
Caniapiscau, and (River, Lake, Regional county municipality)
Candiac
Causapscal
Chibougamau or Chibouagmou:
Chicoutimi (and County): "End of the deep water" in Montagnais.
Coaticook: Derived from the Abenaki language, meaning "river near the pines".
Donnacona: Named after Chief Donnacona, 16th Century Iroquois Chief of Stadacona.
Lac Etchemin (and town)
Gaspé (also County, Peninsula, and Cape): "land's end" in Mi'kmaq.
Inukjuak
Kahnawake
Kamouraska County: Derived from the Abenaki language, meaning "birch bark here".
Kangiqsualujjuaq
Kanesatate
Lac Kénogami: Kenogami means "long water" in the Cree language.
Kuujjuaq
Malartic
Lac Manitou: Derived from the Algonquian name Gitchi Manitou, which in their culture describes their Creator (the Great Spirit).
Maniwaki
Maskinongé (and County)
Matane
Matane County
Matapédia County
Réservoir and Rivière Matawin
Magog: Derived from "Memphremagog", see Lake Memphremagog below.
Manicouagan: "where there is bark"
Mascouche
Mégantic County (also Lake): Abenaki for "lake trout place".
Lac Memphremagog: Meaning "beautiful waters" or "vast expanse of water" in Abenaki.
Missisquoi County: Missisquoi is an Abenaki tribal name.
Nastapoka Islands
Oka
Pohenegamook
Pontiac County: Name of the famous 18th-century Ottawa Chief Pontiac.
Quebec City (and County): The "narrowing of the river" refers to the point where the St. Lawrence River passes Quebec City.
Rimouski (and County)
Saguenay (and Region, River)
Salluit
Sayabec
Shawinigan: "Portage at the crest" in Algonquian.
Squatec
Tadoussac
Temiscamingue County
Témiscouata County: Abenaki for "bottomless" or "extremely deep all around".
Torngat Mountains
Yamachiche
Yamaska County

Saskatchewan

Saskatoon: Derived from the Cree word misāskwatōmin, meaning Saskatoon berry - a fruit native to the area.

Yukon

Aishihik Lake: meaning "tail hanging down" in Southern Tutchone
Ivvavik National Park: Ivavik means "birthplace" or "nursery" in Inuvialuktun
Klondike and Klondike River: Derived from the Han language word for hammer stones used to fix salmon nets (Tr'ondëk).
Kluane Lake and Kluane National Park and Reserve: from Łù'àn meaning big fish in Southern Tutchone
Tagish Lake and Tagish, Yukon: from the name of the language and people (Tagish Kwan)
Teslin Lake, Teslin River and Teslin, Yukon: from the Tlingit Deisleen, long narrow water
Vuntut National Park

References and notes

↑ [Department of Canadian Heritage: Origin of the Name - Canada]
↑ Rayburn, Alan. 2001. Naming Canada: stories about Canadian place names, 2nd ed. (ISBN 0-8020-8293-9) University of Toronto Press: Toronto; pp. 13-4.
↑ Ibid., p. 14.