List of Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies

This article lists the etymologies of the names of the provinces and territories of Canada.

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

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

List of Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies

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