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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 comes from the word meaning "village" or "settlement" in the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian; language spoken by the inhabitants of Stadacona and the neighbouring region near present-day Quebec City in the 16th century. Another contemporary meaning was "land." 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 nekantaa, the Seneca iennekanandaa, and the Onondaga use ganataje.
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Provinces and territories
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.
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".
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Alberta
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British Columbia
For the scores of BC placenames from the Chinook Jargon, see List of Chinook Jargon placenames.
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A-B
Ahnuhati River: "where the humpback salmon go" in Kwak'wala (humpback salmon are also known as pink salmon)
Atchelitz: "bottom" in Halqemeylem, possibly because this locality and the creek of the same name is at the bottom of Chilliwack Mountain.
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/.
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C
Cariboo: from Micmac xalibu via French cariboeuf or carfboeuf: "pawer" or "scratcher". A mountain subspecies of caribou were once numerous in the Cariboo.
Cassiar: a remote adaptation of Kaska, definition debatable, but possibly "old moccasins".
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.
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).
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.
Chic Chic Bay: Tshik-tshik, under various spellings, is the Chinook Jargon for a wagon or wheeled vehicle.
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.
Chonat Bay: "where coho salmon are found" in Kwak'wala
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".
Cluxewe River: "delta or sand bar" in Kwak'wala
Coglistiko River: "stream coming from small jack-pine windfalls" in the Carrier language
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".
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)".
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E-M
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
Esquimalt: North Straits Salish for "the place of gradually shoaling water". Derived from their word Es-whoy-malth.
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K-L
Kamloops: English translation of Shuswap word Tk'emlups, meaning "where the rivers meet".
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").
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M-N
Metchosin: English translation of Smets-Schosen, meaning "place of stinking fish".
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O-Q
Osoyoos: "Narrowing of the waters".
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S
Sechelt: the town is named after the First Nations people who live in the area, the Shishalh
Skaha Lake: from the Okanagan language word for "dog" (sqexe)
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).
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".
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T
Tulameen: Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) language for "red earth", a reference to the ochre found here, which was highly prized for use in ceremonial life.
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U-Z
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Manitoba
Winnipeg: "Dirty water" or "murky water" from the word win-nipi of the Cree.
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New Brunswick
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."
Woolastook Maliseet word meaning 'good and bountiful river
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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*
Makkovik: Vik is the Inuktitut word for "place". Makko- may have one of the following origins:
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.*
Torngat Mountains: from the Inuktitut name for the region, turngait, meaning "spirits"; Inuit legends hold that here the spirit and physical worlds overlap.*
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Nova Scotia
Antigonish: Derivied from the Mi'kmaq word nalegitkoonechk, meaning "where branches are torn off".
Kejimkujik National Park: "Kejimkujik" has been translated as meaning "attempting to escape" or "swollen waters", but the park's official translation means "tired muscles".
Pugwash: Derivied from the Mi'kmaq word pagweak, meaning "shallow water".
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Northwest Territories
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Nunavut
Pangnirtung is derived from Pangniqtuuq: "thte place of many bull caribou"
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Ontario
Etobicoke: "The place where the alders grow" from the word wadoopikaang in Ojibwa.
Mississauga: Named after the Indian tribe of Mississauga
Toronto: "Place of meeting" from the word toronton in Huron (most probable).
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Quebec
Magog: Derived from "Memphremagog", see Lake Memphremagog below.
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Saskatchewan
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Yukon
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See also
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