List of place names in Canada of Indigenous origin

This list of place names in Canada of Indigenous origin contains Canadian places whose names originate from the words of the First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, collectively referred to as indigenous peoples. When possible the original word or phrase used by Indigenous peoples is included, along with its generally believed meaning. Names listed are only those used in English or French, as many places have alternate names in the local native languages, e.g. Alkali Lake, British Columbia is Esket in the Shuswap language; Lytton, British Columbia is Camchin in the Thompson language (often used in English however, as Kumsheen).

Indigenous peoples
in Canada

Canada

The name Canada comes from the word meaning "village" or "settlement" in the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian[1] language spoken by the inhabitants of Stadacona and the neighbouring region near present-day Quebec City in the 16th century.[2] Another contemporary meaning was "land."[3] Jacques Cartier was first to use the word "Canada" to refer not only to the village of Stadacona, but also to the neighbouring region and to the Saint-Lawrence River.

In other Iroquoian languages, the words for "town" or "village" are similar: the Mohawk use kaná:ta’,[4][5] the Seneca iennekanandaa, and the Onondaga use ganataje.[6]

Provinces and territories

Provinces and territories whose official names are aboriginal in origin are Yukon, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut.

By province and territory

Alberta
  • Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation no. 437 (formerly "Indian Reserve") named after the Alexis family, prominent in the band
  • Amisk: "Beaver" in Cree.
  • Athabasca: "Where there are reeds" in Cree
  • Battle River translation of Cree place name. There were many fights in its area between Cree, Blackfoot and Nakoda [9]
  • Bear Hills Lake translation of Cree place name [10]
  • Bear Hill translation of Cree place name [11]
  • Beaver Hills (includes today's Elk Island Park) translation of Cree, Blackfoot and Nakoda place names for the feature. [12]
  • Blood Reserve 148 (formerly Indian reserve) Kinai First Nation, name roughly translated as Blood in the past
  • Bow River English translation of Blackfoot name for the river – Makhabn, "river where bow reeds grow" (Blackfoot), reeds there were good for making bows with which to shoot arrows.
  • Chipewyan: "duck lake" (includes Fort Chipewyan)[13]
  • Crowfoot: Chief of the Siksika First Nation and signatory of Treaty 7
  • Ermineskin Reserve 138 (formerly Indian reserve) owned by Ermineskin Cree Nation, one of the Four Nations of Maskwacis
  • Goosequill Lake translation of Cree word Manikwanan for the lake [14]
  • Grand Forks: translation of Blackfoot name for the place
  • Grand Prairie: translation of Cree name "Big Prairie"
  • Ipiatik Lake [15]
  • Kakisa River [16]
  • Kakwa River [16]
  • Kananaskis
  • Kapasiwin[17]
  • Kapawe'no First Nation [17]
  • Kimiwan: Cree word for rainy
  • Lake Minnewanka: ""Water of the Spirits" in Sioux (Nakoda/Stoney language)
  • Makaoo. Cree name of early leader of the Band [18]
  • Manawan Lake Cree for egg-gathering place [18]
  • Marie Lake poor translation of the Cree word for the place methai, pronounced merai, which translates as a fish.[18]
  • Maskekosikh Trail (formerly 23 Avenue between 215 Street and Anthony Henday Drive) Road of the "people of the land of medicine" in Cree[19]
  • Maskwa Creek near Wetaskiwin Cree word for black bear is muskwa
  • Maskwacis (formerly known as Hobbema) collection of several First Nations name translates as Bear hills
  • Matchayaw Lake Cree for bad spirit. Palliser translated the name as Little Manitoo in 1865.[18]
  • Medicine Hat: Translation of the Blackfoot word saamis, meaning "headdress of a medicine man".
  • Meeting Creek. English translation of the Cree name nukh-kwa-ta-to, which referenced the frequent meeting between the Cree and Blackfoot there.[18]
  • Metiskow Cree for many trees [20]
  • Mewassin Native [Cree] word for good [18]
  • Michichi: Cree for hand (Nearby Hand Hills has same source)
  • Mitsue Creek [21]
  • Mokowan Ridge [22]
  • Minaik: Cree (also Nakoda) "Minahik" for evergreen (pine or tamarack)
  • Nikanassin Range: "First range" in Cree
  • Okotoks: "Big Rock" in Blackfoot
  • Oldman River. The Piikani Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy named the river after their traditional sacred ground at its headwaters, said to the "Old Man's Playing Ground," sacred ground of Napi, the Old Man, the Great Creator.[23]
  • Papaschase Industrial Park (Edmonton)
  • Peace River translation of Tza Tinne place name unchago, which is derived from peace made in late 1700s between two groups along its shores. [24]
  • Piikani 147 Indian reserve (on which Brocket is located) owned by Piikani Nation (formerly the Peigan Nation) [25]
  • Pekisko from Blackfoot place name translates as "rough ridge" or "rolling hills" [26]
  • Pipestone River translation of Cree and possibly Nakoda place name, derived from it being source of stone to make pipes [27]
  • Ponoka: "Black Elk" in Blackfoot
  • Poundmaker Trail named after Cree chief Poundmaker
  • Prairie Creek translation of Cree and Nakoda place name [28]
  • Pretty Hill translation of Cree place name [29]
  • Princess Lake translation of Cree place name [30]
  • Rabbit Hill (Edmonton) translation of Cree place name [31]
  • Red River colour of water in river (red from its high iron content) [32]
  • Redearth Creek soil on its shores used by Natives as body paint [33]
  • Redearth Pass soil in pass used by Natives as body paint [34]
  • Redwater (river and town) translation of Cree name "red water" [35]
  • Redwillow Creek form of translation of Cree place name literally "Red Feathers/bristles small river" [36]
  • Sakaw (neighbourhood in southside Edmonton)
  • Saskatchewan River, North and South Saskatchewan River. Derived from the Cree name for the Saskatchewan River, kisiskāciwani-sīpiy, meaning "swift flowing river"
  • Shaganappi Trail (Calgary). Shaganappi were rawhide strips. Used to repair a myriad of objects, it was the duct tape of its time.
  • Skyrattler (neighbourhood in southside Edmonton)
  • Slave Lake: "Slave" was a mis-translation of the Cree word for foreigner to describe the Athabaskan people living there. (see Slave River, NWT below)
  • Smoky Lake: This town's name comes from the Cree name for the almost-now-disappeared lake nearby. Wood Cree named it Smoking Lake for either the large number of campfires around it often, or the unusually large quantities of mist that came off it at sunset.
  • Tipaskan (neighbourhood in southside Edmonton)
  • Valley of Ten Peaks includes these four peaks named after the numerals of the Stoney language:
  • Wabamun: (lake and town west of Edmonton) is a Cree word for "mirror" or "looking glass
  • Wabasca: from wapuskau, "grassy narrows" in Cree language
  • Wapiti River: from the Cree word for "elk", waapiti (literally "white rump").
  • Waputik Range: Waputik means "white goat" in Stoney
  • Waskatenau village and creek. pronounced with silent "k." In 1880s area was home to the Wah-Sat-Now (Cree) band, which later moved to the Saddle Lake reserve.[37] Cree term for "opening in the banks", in reference to the clef in the nearby ridge through which the Waskatenau Creek flows.[38]
  • Wetaskiwin: "Place of peace" or "hill of peace" in Cree

British Columbia

For the scores of BC placenames from the Chinook Jargon, see List of Chinook Jargon placenames.

A–B
  • Ahnuhati River: "where the humpback salmon go" in Kwak'wala
  • Ahousat: "people living with their backs to the mountains" 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
  • Ashlu Creek
  • Ashnola River: thought to mean "white water" in Okanagan
  • Asitka River, Asitka Peak, Asitka Lake
  • Askom Mountain: "mountain" in St'at'imcets (the Lillooet language)
  • Atchelitz: "bay" or "inlet" in Halqemeylem,
  • Atlin: "big lake" in Inland Tlingit
  • Atna Range: "strangers" or "other people" in Carrier.
  • Atnarko River: "river of strangers" in Chilcotin
  • Atsutla Range
  • 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 indigenous people, 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 for themselves, [pəlbálá].
  • Botanie Mountain, Botanie Creek, Botanie Valley etc., meaning "covered", "covering" or "blanketed all over" in Nlaka'pamux (Thompson), which is thought to be a reference to its shroud of cloud or fog in times of bad weather, or else a reference to the abundant plant cover in the area. An 1894 account of a Secwepemc (Shuswap) meaning is "many root place" (the upper end of the Botanie Valley is near the limit of Secwepemc territory)

C
  • Canim Lake, Canim River, Canim Falls, Canim Beach Provincial Park: "canoe" in the Chinook Jargon
  • Cariboo: from the Mi'kmaq language xalibu or Qalipu via French caribou (1610) cariboeuf or carfboeuf: "pawer" or "scratcher".[39][40][Notes 1] A mountain subspecies of caribou were once numerous.
  • Carmanah Creek, Carmanah Valley, Carmanah Point: "thus far upstream" in the Nitinaht dialect of (Nuu-chah-nulth).
  • Cassiar: a remote adaptation of Kaska, definition debatable, but possibly "old moccasins".
  • Caycuse River: from the Nitinaht dialect of Nuu-chah-nulth language, 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 word for "steelhead lake"
  • Cheakamus River: from the Squamish language "Chiyakmesh", 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).
  • Chechidla Range – from a phrase meaning "mountains of small rocks" in the Tahltan language
  • Checleset Bay: from the Nuu-chah-nulth language name Cheklesahht, "people of cut on the beach", the local group of Nuu-chah-nulth people, whose band government today is the Kyuquot/Cheklesahht First Nation.
  • Chedakuz Arm (Knewstubb Lake), Carrier language
  • Cheewat River: from the Nitinaht dialect of Nuu-chah-nulth for "having an island nearby".
  • Cheekye River and the locality of Cheekye near Squamish: from Nch'kay, the 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). The Chehalis people refer to themselves, however, as Sts'ailes, "beating heart".
  • Cheja Range – from a phrase meaning "mountains are hard" in the Tahltan language
  • Chemainus: Named after the native shaman and prophet Tsa-meeun-is, which means "Broken Chest" or "bitten breast"(Hulquminum 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: "red ochre river people" in the Chilcotin language
  • Chilkat Pass: "salmon storehouse" in the Tlingit language
  • Chilko River: "red 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".
  • Chukachida 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 same even when disturbed".
  • Clo-oose: "campsite beach" in the Nitinaht dialect of Nuu-chah-nulth
  • Clusko River: "mud river" in the Chilcotin language
  • Cluxewe Mountain, 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 Hulquminum
  • Comaplix, British Columbia is a former mining town which was named after the Incomappleux River from the Lakes or Colville-Okanagan word nk'mapeleqs, meaning "point at end (of lake)".
  • 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 Halqemeylem
  • Coquihalla River, Coquihalla Mountain: "stingy container" (of fish) in Halqemeylem, a reference to black-coloured water spirits who would steal fish right off the spear
  • Coquitlam: "small red salmon" in Halqemeylem (Upriver Halkomelem). Derived from the name of the Kwikwetlem people. Another and more usual translation is "stinking of fish slime" or "stinking fish", thought to be a reference to the Kwikwetlem people's role as slaves to the Katzie and Kwantlen as fish butchers.
  • Cowichan: from Quwutsun, "land warmed by the sun" or "warm country" (Hulquminum)
  • 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, Cumshewa Inlet, Cunshewa Head: Cumshewa was a prominent Haida chief in the late 18th 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)" and was conferred from the language of the Heiltsuk, who were allies of the Cumshewa Haida.

D–J
  • Dil-Dil Plateau, meaning unknown, probably Chilcotin language
  • 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: "child crying in the water" or "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 and Edziza, Mount volcanic complex: named after the Edzertza family of the Tahltan people, who live nearby.
  • Elaho River
  • Endako Lake, Carrier language
  • Esquimalt: North Straits Salish for "the place of gradually shoaling water". Derived from their word Es-whoy-malth.
  • Euchuk Lake, Carrier language
  • Fontas River: originally Fantasque's River, after the name of a chief of the Sekani people
  • Gataga River, Gataga Lakes, Gataga Mountain, Gataga River, Gataga Ranges, derived from the Sekani name for the river Tadadzè' (Guzagi K'úgé)[41]
  • Gingolx, also sp. Kincolith, "Place of skulls" in the Nisga'a language
  • Gunn Valley, from the name of a member of the Xeni Gwet'in of Nemaiah Valley who lived there, ganin.
  • Hotnarko River
  • Hozameen Range
  • Hunlen Falls, from the name of a chief whose trapline was in the area of the falls
  • Incomappleux River is from the Lakes or Colville-Okanagan word nk'mapeleqs, meaning "point at end (of lake)". The name of the former town of Comaplix and adjacent mountain and creek are derived from the name of the river.
  • Inklin River
  • Kinuseo Falls, from the Cree for "fish"

K–L
  • Kalamalka Lake
  • Kamloops: anglicization of the Shuswap word Tk'emlups, meaning "where the rivers meet".
  • Kasalka Range, Kasalka Butte, Kasalka Creek
  • Kelowna: "ki?lawna?" meaning a male grizzly bear in the Okanagan language.
  • Kemano, from the name of one of the subdivisions of the Henaksiala people, a subgroup of the Haisla
  • Keremeos
  • Khutzeymateen River, Khutzeymateen Provincial Park, Khutzeymateen Inlet, from "K'tzim-a-deen" (Tsimshian language)
  • Kincolith – see Gingolx
  • Kitimat – people of the snow
  • Kitlope River, var. of Gitlope, the Tsimshian language name for the Gitlope, "people of the rocks", now amalgamated with the Gitamaat band as the Haisla First Nation.
  • Kitselas, British Columbia, Kitselas Canyon, "people of the village in the canyon" in the Tsimshian language
  • Kitsumkalum, British Columbia, Kitsumkalum River – "people of the riffles (in the shallow water" in the Tsimshian language.
  • Klemtu, from the Coast Tsimshian language "Klemdoo-oolk," meaning"impassable"[42]
  • Kluskus Lakes, Kluskus Hills, Kluskus
  • Kootenay: derived from the proper name of the Kootenay people, Ktunaxa
  • Kuyakuz Mountain, Kuyakuz Lake
  • Kwadacha River "white water" in Sekani (indigenous spelling Kwàdàta or Kwodàch). The river contains high amounts of rock flour, so "white" is reference to the colour of the water, not to rapids.[43]
  • Lakelse Lake, Lakelse Lake Provincial Park, Lakelse Hot Springs etc. from the Coast Tsimshian "LaxGyels"
  • Kyuquot, British Columbia, Kyuquot Sound – from the name of the local group of Nuu-chah-nulth
  • 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

O–Q

S

T

U–Z

Manitoba

New Brunswick
  • Apohaqui – translated from the Maliseet language, and means "The joining of two waters" or "the joining of two rivers". (Apohaqui is where the Millstream and the Kennebecasis River join.)
  • Aroostook
  • Bouctouche: a corruption of the Mi'kmaq word Chebooktoosk, meaning Great Little Harbour.
  • Caraquet: Derived from the Mi'kmaq language, meaning "junction (or meeting) of two rivers".[49][50]
  • Escuminac
  • Kennebecasis River
  • Kouchibouguac National Park (and River): Kouchibouguac means "river of the long tides" in Mi'kmaq.
  • Magaguadavic Lake, a Mi'kmaq word meaning "lake of eels".
  • Mactaquac, a Maliseet word meaning "big branch".
  • Manawagonish Island
  • Meductic : derived from the Maliseet word "Medoctic", meaning "the end".
  • Meduxnekeag
  • Miramichi : the name, which may be the oldest recorded name of aboriginal origin in Canada, may come from the Montagnais word for "country of the Micmac."
  • Nackawic, which gets its name from the Maliseet word meaning "straight" or "not in the direction it seems to be", alluding to the illusion created at the intersection of the Nackawic Stream and the Saint John River.
  • Nashwaak River : a corruption of the Maliseet word for slow current.
  • Nashwaaksis
  • Nauwigewauk :probably means babbling brook
  • Oromocto : possibly from the Maliseet word welamooktook which means "good river"
  • Penniac, meaning "fork in the river".
  • Penobsquis
  • Petitcodiac – term is derived from a Mi'kmaq word meaning "bends like a bow" (contradicts the popular belief that the name derived from the French term "petit coude", meaning "little elbow")
  • Pokiok
  • Quispamsis – translated from the Maliseet language and means, "little lake in the woods" (i.e., Ritchie Lake)
  • Shiketehauk River
  • Temisquata Lake
  • Washademoak Lake
  • Woolastook : Maliseet word meaning 'good and bountiful river'

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
  • Kaipokok Bay: from Inuktitut, meaning "frothy water"
  • Ktaqmkuk: Land over the water from Mi'kmaq language "Newfoundland" [51]
  • Makkovik: Vik is the Inuktitut word for "place". Makko- may have one of the following origins:
  1. it may be a corruption of the name Maarcoux, after Pierre Marcoux, a French trader in Labrador in the late 18th century ; or
  2. 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.
  • Natuashish: from Innu-aimun, meaning "a small lake".
  • Nunatsiavut: from Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land"
  • 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.
  • Sheshatshiu: from Innu-aimun, meaning "a narrow place in the river".
  • Torngat Mountains: from the Inuktitut name for the region, turngait, meaning "spirits"; Inuit legends hold that here the spirit and physical worlds overlap.
  • Wabana – from the Abenaki wabunaki, "east land" from wabun "dawn"; so named in 1895 by Colonel Thomas Cantley, president of the Nova Scotia Steel Company
  • Wabush – from Innu-aimun uapush, "Arctic hare"

Nova Scotia
  • Antigonish: Derived from the Mi'kmaq word nalegitkoonechk, meaning "where branches are torn off".
  • Baddeck
  • Chebucto (the original name of Halifax and the Halifax Harbour): Derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Jipugtug", meaning "the biggest harbour".[52][53][54]
  • Cobequid: Derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wakobetgitk", meaning "end of the rushing or flowing water".[55][56]
  • Ecum Secum: Derived from the Mi'kmaq language, meaning "a red house".
  • Eskasoni: Derived from the Mi'kmaq word We'kwistoqnik, meaning "Where the fir trees are plentiful".
  • 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
  • Mushaboom
  • Musquodoboit Harbour: foaming to the sea. The name is an anglicized version of the Mi’kmaq word Moosekudoboogwek.
  • Nictaux, Nova Scotia, meaning unknown
  • Pictou: Derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Piktook", meaning "an explosion of gas".[57][58]
  • Pugwash: Derived from the Mi'kmaq word "pagwe’ak", meaning "deep water".[59][60]
  • Shubenacadie:Derived from the Mi'kmaq word Shubenacadie (or Segubunakade) means "abounding in ground nuts" or "place where the red potato grows.
  • Stewiacke: Derived from the Mi'kmaq language, meaning "flowing out in small streams" and "whimpering or whining as it goes".[61]
  • Tatamagouche: Derived from the Mi'kmaq word takumegooch, meaning "meeting of the waters".
  • Tracadie
  • Wagmatcook
  • Whycocomagh:Derived from a Mi'kmaq word which means "Head of the Waters".

Northwest Territories
Main article: List of communities in the Northwest Territories

Nunavut

Ontario

Quebec

Saskatchewan
  • Assiniboia: Derived from the name of the Assiniboine First Nation people.
  • Cypress Hills: Early Métis hunters, who spoke a variation of French, called the hills les montagnes des Cyprès, in reference to the abundance of jack pine trees. In the Canadian French spoken by the Métis, the jack pine is called cyprès.
  • Kamsack: From a First Nation word meaning something vast and large.
  • Katepwa: Likely derived from the Cree word Kahtapwao meaning What is calling?.
  • Kenosee lake
  • Kinistino: It has been suggested that the word Kinistino is equivalent to running water in Cree. This has not been able to be verified.
  • Lake Athabasca: From Woods Cree: aðapaskāw, [where] there are plants one after another.
  • Manitou Beach: When the world was created, the Great Spirit, Aasha Monetoo, gave the land to the indigenous peoples.
  • Mistusinne: Derived from the Plains Cree word mistasiniy meaning big stone which resembled a sleeping bison.
  • Moosomin From the Cree word for the mooseberry or high bush cranberry.
  • Nipawin: Derived from the Cree word meaning a bed, or resting place which referred to a low-lying area along the river now flooded by Codette Lake.
  • Nokomis: Named for Hiawatha’s grandmother in Longfellow’s epic poem, chosen in 1906 by postmistress Florence Mary Halstead.
  • Ogema: “Omega” is Greek for “end”, being “the end of the rail-line.” Two communities had the same name, so two letters were switched to become “Ogema”. Ogema is an Anishinaabemowin word meaning Chief.
  • Piapot: Named for Chief Piapot, meaning Hole in the Sioux or One Who Knows the Secrets of the Sioux.
  • Saskatoon: Derived from the Cree word misāskwatōmin, meaning Saskatoon berry – a fruit native to the area.
  • Sintaluta: The name comes from a Lakota word meaning tail of the red fox.
  • Wadena: Named after Wadena, Minnesota, the origin of some early settlers of American descent, which was named after Chief Wadena, an Ojibwe Chief.
  • Wakaw: A Cree word meaning crooked, referring to nearby Wakaw Lake.
  • Wapella: Meaning either water underground or gently falling snow, where wape means to snow in Dakota.
  • Waskesiu: From the Cree word meaning red deer or elk. (Also resort town of Waskesiu Lake)
  • Wawota: From the Dakota words wa ota, which means lots of snow. Wa means snow, oda or ota means lots.

Yukon

See also

Notes
  1. Marc Lescarbot in his publication in French 1610 used the term "caribou." Silas Tertius Rand included the term Kaleboo in his Mi'kmaq-English dictionary in 1888.

References
  1. Bruce G. Trigger and James F. Pendergast. (1978), "Saint-Lawrence Iroquoians", in Handbook of North American Indians. Volume 15. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 357–361
  2. Jacques Cartier. (1545).Relation originale de Jacques Cartier. Paris, Tross, 1863 edition, page 48.
  3. Alan Rayburn. (2001). Naming Canada: stories about Canadian place names, 2nd ed. (ISBN 0-8020-8293-9) University of Toronto Press: Toronto; p. 13.
  4. Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. Bright (2004:78)
  6. Rayburn, op. cit, p. 14.
  7. Afable, Patricia O. and Madison S. Beeler (1996). "Place Names". In "Languages", ed. Ives Goddard. Vol. 17 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 191
  8. Bright (2004:583)
  9. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  10. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  11. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  12. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  13. Dempsey, 1969
  14. Holmgren and Holmgren, 1972
  15. Aubrey, p.159
  16. Aubrey, p.172
  17. Aubrey, p.173
  18. Harrison, Place Names of Alberta, volume 3
  19. "Renamed Maskekosikh Trail part of City's ongoing reconciliation committment," CBC News, Feb. 12, 2016
  20. Aubrey, p.210
  21. Aubrey, p.215
  22. Aubrey, p.217
  23. "Oldman River," Historica Canada website
  24. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  25. Wikipedia "Piikani First Nation"
  26. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  27. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  28. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  29. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  30. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  31. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  32. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  33. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  34. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  35. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  36. Fromhold, 2001 Indian Place Names of the West
  37. Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 3, 1881; April 18, 1885; Sept. 16, 1897
  38. Harrison, Volume 3
  39. Online Etymology Dictionary, 'caribou'
  40. Kavanagh, Maureen, ed. (2005) [1985], "Hinterland Who's Who", Canadian Wildlife Service/EC, ISBN 0-662-39659-6, archived from the original on 24 December 2013, retrieved 21 December 2013
  41. BC Names entry "Gataga Mountain"
  42. "Klemtu". BC Geographical Names.
  43. "Kwadacha River". BC Geographical Names.
  44. "Caribou Hide (community)". BC Geographical Names.
  45. "Nadina River". BC Geographical Names.
  46. "Nakusp (village)". BC Geographical Names.
  47. "Sicamous (district municipality)". BC Geographical Names.
  48. "Toodoggone River". BC Geographical Names.
  49. "Government of Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada – New Brunswick". AINC-INAC.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  50. "Central Quebec School Board – Places & Origin of Names". Archived from the original on 25 October 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  51. http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/aboriginal/mikmaq-land-claims.php
  52. Paskal, Cleo (10 June 2006). "The Toronto Star – Harbouring a host of delights". Toronto Star. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  53. "Mi'kmaq Online.org – Words, Pronunciation – Jipugtug (with audio clips)". MikmaqOnline.org. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  54. "MapleSquare.com – Halifax's History – Jipugtug (or Chebucto)". MapleSquare.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  55. "Gov.ns.ca – Transportation – Public Works – New highway named Cobequid Pass". Government of Nova Scotia. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  56. "Acadian-Cajun, Genealogy & History – Exile Destination – Cobequid". Acadian-Cajun.com. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  57. "TownOfPictou.ca – History of Pictou – By historian Ron Wallis". TownOfPictou.ca. Archived from the original on 19 March 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  58. "Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library, County place names". PARL.ns.ca. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  59. "Tatamagouche.com – Local Histories – Pugwash". Tatamagouche.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  60. "Sympatico, MSN Travel – Nova Scotia's Northern Shore, Pugwash". Sympatico.MSN.ca. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  61. "Museum, Government of Nova Scotia – 511 Windsor Lowlands". Museum.gov.ns.ca. Archived from the original on 22 May 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  62. Berger, Jonathan; Terry, Thomas (2007). Canoe Atlas of the Little North. Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills Press. pp. 109, 111, 115. ISBN 978-1-55046-496-2. OCLC 78038334. Also OCLC 174417835
  63. Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary
  64. Rayburn, Alan, Place Names of Ontario, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997, p. 258.
  65. Bright (2004:508–9)

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