List of Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies

Template:Short description This article lists the etymologies of the names of the provinces and territories of Canada.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Provinces and territories

Name	Language of origin	Word(s) in original language	Meaning and notes
Template:Flag	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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag	Latin		Referring to the British sector of the Columbia District, after the Columbia River, ultimately after the Columbia Rediviva, a reference to Christopher Columbus<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag	Cree, Ojibwe. or Assiniboine	manitou-wapow, manidoobaa, or minnetoba	"Straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit" or "Lake of the Prairie", after Lake Manitoba<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Flag	German (ultimately from Low German)	Template:Lang	Combination of Bruno and wik, referring to a place where merchants rested and stored their goods<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Flag	Portuguese	Template:Lang and Template:Lang	"New land", and the surname of João Fernandes Lavrador, meaning "farmer" or "plower"<ref>Hamilton, William B. (1978): The Macmillan book of Canadian place names, Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, p. 105.</ref>
Template:Flag	English		Referring to the territory's position relative to Rupert's Land
Template:Flag	Latin		"New Scotland", referring to the country Scotland, derived from the Latin Template:Lang, the term applied to Gaels<ref>Scottish Settlement Template:Webarchive. Novascotia.com. Retrieved 12 July 2013.</ref><ref>P. Freeman, Ireland and the Classical World, Austin, 2001, pp. 93.</ref>
Template:Flag	Inuktitut		Nunavut means "Our land" in the Inuit language<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag	Iroquoian, Wyandot	Ontarí꞉io or Skanadario	"Great lake" or "beautiful water", after Lake Ontario<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag	English (ultimately from Old English)		After Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, ultimately from the Anglo-Saxon Template:Lang "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and Template:Lang "guardian, protector"<ref>Tidridge, Nathan. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent: Father of the Canadian Crown. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2013.</ref>
Template:Flag	Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, Ojibwe	Template:Lang	"Where the river narrows", referring to the narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River at Quebec City<ref>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.</ref>
Template:Flag	Cree	Template:Lang	"Swift-flowing river", after the Saskatchewan River<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag	Gwichʼin	Template:Lang	"White water river", after the Yukon River<ref>"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 obt Servt, 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, Template:Cite book</ref><ref>In Gwich'in, adjectives, such as Template:Lang [big] and Template:Lang [white], follow the nouns that they modify. Thus, white water is Template:Lang [water white]. White water river is Template:Lang [water white river]. Template:Cite book</ref>

Historical regions

• Acadia (Template:Langx): 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.<ref>Template:Usurped</ref>
  2. Possibly derived from the Míkmaq word Template:Lang, pronounced roughly "agadik", meaning "place", which French-speakers spelled as -cadie in place names such as Shubenacadie and Tracadie, possibly coincidentally.<ref>Provinces and Territories - The origins of their names Template:Webarchive</ref>
• District of Keewatin: Algonquian roots—either Template:Lang (Template:Lang) in Cree or Template:Lang (Template:Lang) in Ojibwe—both of which mean 'north wind' in their respective languages.<ref>"Who Named the North-Land?". Manitoba Free Press. August 19, 1876. p. 3.</ref>
• Nunatsiavut: Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land".<ref>Nunatsiavut Government|Nunatsiavut.com Template:Webarchive</ref>

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

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