List of Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies explained

This article lists the etymologies of the names of the provinces and territories of Canada.^[1]

Provinces and territories

Name	Language of origin	Word(s) in original language	Meaning and notes
	Latin (ultimately from Proto-Germanic)		Feminine Latinized form of Albert, ultimately from the Proto-Germanic *Aþalaberhtaz (compound of "noble" + "bright/famous"), after Princess Louisa Caroline Alberta^[2] ^[3]
			Referring to the British sector of the Columbia District, after the Columbia River, ultimately after the Columbia Rediviva, a reference to Christopher Columbus^[4] ^[5]
		manitou-wapow, manidoobaa, or minnetoba	"Straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit" or "Lake of the Prairie", after Lake Manitoba^[6] ^[7]
	German (ultimately from Low German)	Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: [[Braunschweig|Brunswiek]]	Combination of Bruno and wik, referring to a place where merchants rested and stored their goods^[8]
		Portuguese: Terra Nova and Portuguese: Lavrador	"New land", and the surname of João Fernandes Lavrador, meaning "farmer" or "plower"^[9]
			Referring to the territory's position relative to Rupert's Land
			"New Scotland", referring to the country Scotland, derived from the Latin Latin: [[Scoti]], the term applied to Gaels^[10] ^[11]
			Nunavut means "Our land" in the Inuit language^[12]
		Ontarí꞉io or Skanadario	"Great lake" or "beautiful water", after Lake Ontario^[13] ^[14]
	English (ultimately from Old English)		After Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, ultimately from the Anglo-Saxon English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ead "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and English, Old (ca.450-1100);: weard "guardian, protector"^[15]
		Mi'kmaq; Micmac: kébec	"Where the river narrows", referring to the narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River at Quebec City^[16]
		Cree: kisiskāciwani-sīpiy	"Swift-flowing river", after the Saskatchewan River^[17]
		Gwich'in: chųų gąįį han	"White water river", after the Yukon River^[18] ^[19]

Historical regions

• Acadia (French: Acadie): origin disputed:
  1. Credited to Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, who first named a region around Chesapeake Bay Archadia (Arcadia) in 1524 because of "the beauty of its trees", according to his diary. Cartographers began using the name Arcadia to refer to areas progressively farther north until it referred to the French holdings in maritime Canada (particularly Nova Scotia). The -r- also began to disappear from the name on early maps, resulting in the current Acadia.^[20]
  2. Possibly derived from the Míkmaq word Mi'kmaq; Micmac: akatik, pronounced roughly "agadik", meaning "place", which French-speakers spelled as -cadie in place names such as Shubenacadie and Tracadie, possibly coincidentally.^[21]
• District of Keewatin

Algonquian roots—either Cree: kīwēhtin (Cree: ᑮᐍᐦᑎᐣ) in Cree or Ojibwa: giiwedin (Ojibwa: ᑮᐌᑎᓐ) in Ojibwe—both of which mean 'north wind' in their respective languages.^[22]

• Nunatsiavut

Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land".^[23]

See also

• Locations in Canada with an English name
• List of Canadian place names of Ukrainian origin
• List of place names in Canada of Aboriginal origin
• List of etymologies of administrative divisions
• Name of Canada
• Origins of names of cities in Canada
• Scottish place names in Canada

Further reading

• • Book: Alan Rayburn. Naming Canada: stories about Canadian place names. 1 March 2001. University of Toronto Press. 978-0-8020-8293-0.
• Book: William B. Hamilton. The Macmillan book of Canadian place names. 1978. 2006 . Macmillan of Canada. 978-0-7715-9754-1.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Provinces and Territories - The origins of their names . Geonames.nrcan.gc.ca . 2007-09-18 . 2011-11-23 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080604204017/http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/education/prov_e.php . 2008-06-04 .
2. Web site: Meaning, origin and history of the name Albert. Mike. Campbell. Behind the Name.
3. Web site: Alberta | Origin and meaning of the name Alberta by Online Etymology Dictionary. etymonline.com.
4. Book: Akrigg . Helen B. . British Columbia Chronicle, 1847–1871: Gold & Colonists . G.P.V. . Discovery Press . 1977 . 9780919624030 . illustrated.
5. Web site: Why is the Western Region of Canada Called British Columbia? . May 17, 2017.
6. Web site: Manitoba. Natural Resources Canada. 28 October 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20080604204017/http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/education/prov_e.php#mb. 4 June 2008.
7. Book: Howard, Joseph Kinsey. Strange Empire, a Narrative of the Northwest. Minnesota Historical Society Press. 1994. 978-0873512985. 192.
8. Book: Moderhack, Richard . Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte . 1997 . de . Wagner. Braunschweig. 3-87884-050-0. 14–15 and 21.
9. Hamilton, William B. (1978): The Macmillan book of Canadian place names, Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, p. 105.
10. http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/discovernovascotia/history/routestoyourroots/settlementpatterns/scottishsettlement.aspx Scottish Settlement
11. P. Freeman, Ireland and the Classical World, Austin, 2001, pp. 93.
12. Web site: Origin of the names of Canada and its provinces and territories . . December 24, 2017. September 18, 2007 .
13. Book: Marianne Mithun. The Languages of Native North America. June 7, 2001. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-29875-9. 312.
14. Web site: About Canada // Ontario. Last Paragraph–second–last sentence. Study Canada. The name "Ontario" is generally thought to be derived from the Iroquois word Skanadario, meaning "beautiful water". April 23, 2011. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20110706204317/http://www.studycanada.ca/english/about-ont.htm. July 6, 2011.
15. Tidridge, Nathan. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent: Father of the Canadian Crown. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2013.
16. 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, p. 191.
17. Web site: Government of Canada . Geonames.nrcan.gc.ca . September 18, 2007 . February 23, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080604204017/http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/education/prov_e.php#sk . June 4, 2008 . mdy-all .
18. "Dear Sir, I have great pleasure in informing you that I have at length after much trouble and difficulties, succeed[ed] in reaching the 'Youcon', or white water River, so named by the (Gwich'in) natives from the pale colour of its water. …, I have the honour to Remain Your ob^t Serv^t, John Bell" Hudson's Bay Company Correspondence to George Simpson from John Bell (August 1, 1845), HBC Archives, D.5/14, fos. 212-215d, also quoted in, Book: Land of the Midnight Sun: A History of the Yukon . 21 . Coates . Kenneth S. . William R. . Morrison . amp . Hurtig Publishers . 1988 . 0-88830-331-9 . October 16, 2017.
19. In Gwich'in, adjectives, such as Gwich'in: choo [big] and Gwich'in: gąįį [white], follow the nouns that they modify. Thus, white water is Gwich'in: chųų gąįį [water white]. White water river is Gwich'in: chųų gąįį han [water white river]. Book: Peter, Katherine . Dinjii Zhuh Ginjik Nagwan Tr'iłtsąįį: Gwich'in Junior Dictionary . ii (ą, į, ų are nasalized a, i, u), xii (adjectives follow nouns), 19 (nitsii or choo [big]), 88 (ocean = chųų choo [water big]), 105 (han [river]), 142 (chųų [water]), 144 (gąįį [white]) . Univ. of Alaska . 1979 . October 16, 2017 .
20. https://web.archive.org/web/20040802234006/http://www.billcasselman.com/canadian_food_words/acadia_one.htm Acadia: Origin of the Word by Bill Casselman
21. http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/education/prov_e.php#ns Provinces and Territories - The origins of their names
22. "Who Named the North-Land?". Manitoba Free Press. August 19, 1876. p. 3.
23. http://www.nunatsiavut.com/en/nunatsiavutgov.php Nunatsiavut Government|Nunatsiavut.com