There is no factual evidence to explain why the city was named Camrose. It is suspected that it is named after the village of Camrose in Pembrokeshire, South Wales.[4]
Named for Albert Lacombe, a French-Canadian Roman Catholic Oblate missionary who lived among and evangelized the Cree and Blackfoot First Nations of western Canada.[6]
While the city is named after Father Hippolyte Leduc, a French-Canadian priest who served in the area, there is a dispute over how the designation became official. One story is that the settlement was named after Leduc by the Minister of the Interior, Edgar Dewdney. The other story is that the settler who established the local telegraph office, which required a name to be associated with it, decided to name the settlement after the first person to walk through the door of the office, who turned out to be Leduc.[7]
Mistranslation into English of the Cree name for the Red Deer River, Waskasoo Seepee, which means "Wapiti River" or "Elk River". North American elk (aka Wapiti) are often confused with European Red Deer.
There is some controversy over the origin of the Abbotsford name.[10] The most commonly cited origin is that John Cunningham Maclure named the land "Abbotsford" after family friend Henry Braithwaite Abbott, the western superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway.[11] Maclure's sons later stated that the property had actually been named for Sir Walter Scott's home, Abbotsford, and pronounced it with the accent on ford,[12] while in his later years Maclure himself claimed that the naming had been "a combination of two ideas".[10]
Named for E.C. Heaton Armstrong, a London banker who helped finance the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway in 1892 and local development at the turn of the century.[13]
Named after the creek of the same name, which was named after George Mercer Dawson. who led a surveying team through the area in August 1879; a member of the team labelled the creek with Dawson's name.[22]
Named after a line in the poem "The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire," by Jean Ingelow: The old mayor climbed the belfry tower, The ringers ran by two, by three; "Pull, if ye never pulled before; Good ringers, pull your best," quoth he. "Play uppe, play uppe, O Boston bells! Ply all your changes, all your swells, Play uppe 'The Brides of Enderby".[25]
There is no confirmed explanation for the city's name. Some suggest that it received its name as a result of the original fort being founded on the feast day of St John the Baptist. Another story is that the name originates as nothing more than a suggestion by an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, which renamed the community after rebuilding it due to arson.[27]
Named after Robert Wood, one of the original settlers in the area. Greenwood was chosen as an appropriate name given Wood's last name and the presence of green timber in the area.[29]
Named after the Okanagan term for a female grizzly bear. According to myth, the name was inspired by a husky French Canadian settler named Augustus Gillard, who lived in a half-underground dwelling known as a keekwillee. When some passing Indians saw him emerge from his home one morning, they called him "kemxtús" as he resembled a bear exiting its den. The name was brought up as a potential name for the new community, but it was changed to Kelowna as the original name was considered too uncouth.[31]
Named after Kimberley, South Africa, which in turn was named after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley. The city was named after its counterpart in the hopes that the mining in the area would prove as bountiful as those found in South Africa.[32]
Named after the Powell River, which in turn was named after Doctor Israel Wood Powell, who was the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for British Columbia and the first graduate of medicine from McGill University to practice on the west coast.[46]
Named by Simon Fraser for Jules Maurice Quesnel, one of two North West Company clerks who accompanied him on the expedition where he discovered the Quesnel River.[49]
Named by Ross Thompson after himself in 1890, after purchasing the land the settlement was to be built on. He originally attempted to name the settlement Thompson, but there was already a town in BC by that name.[51]
Named for the southwest arm of Shuswap Lake, which bears the same name. The arm received its name due to its heavy population of salmon; settlers often pitchforked them out of the water and used them for fertilizer on their fields.[52]
The city is named after the county of Surrey in England, however the reasoning why is disputed. One story suggests the name arose out of a meeting of settlers, one of which was reminded of Surrey by the countryside. Another story suggests it was named Surrey because it lies south of New Westminster, just as the county of Surrey lies south of Westminster in England.[53]
Named by George Little after the terraces which surrounded the Skeena River. The settlement was originally to be named Littleton, however this name was rejected by the post office as there was already a Littleton in New Brunswick.[54]
Named for a large white boulder found on the beach near the city, which was used by sailors as a navigational aid. The 486-ton granite boulder was kept white by shellfish-eating seabirds whose guano covered the rock.[57]
Named for William, a Secwepemc chief whose counsel prevented the Shuswap from joining the Tsilhqot'in in their uprising against the settler population.[58]
The name is derived from the French word portage, which means to carry a canoe overland between waterways. In this case the "portage" was between the Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba, over la prairie.[63]
Named after the village in Ukraine, where the city's founders emigrated from. The city's founders spoke Plautdietsch but wrote in High German. The name means "Stone Brook" in German.
Named after John F. Thompson, the chairman of Inco Limited. The community was designed as a planned community by the company to house workers for its nearby mining operations.[64]
Named for James Pearl, who in 1829 was granted the land the city was founded on in recognition of his time in the Royal Navy. He named the estate after himself in 1837, after having originally named it Mount Cochrane in honour of Sir Thomas John Cochrane, the first civil governor of Newfoundland.[70]
Named for the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, which was the date of landing by John Cabot. The name by Basque fishermen for the bay of St. John's was similar to the Bay of Pasaia in the Basque region, and one of the fishing towns called St. John (in Spanish, San Juan).
Named after Lady Arabella Gore, wife of Sir Francis Gore, following a visit by the two to the settlement in 1816. The community was previously known as Singleton's Creek, after an early settler named George Singleton, and Meyer's Creek, after John Walden Meyers.[74][75]
Named after Mohawk Chief Thayendanegea (also known as Joseph Brant), who allied his people with the British during the American Revolution and ultimately led to them receiving a land grant for the area at the site of the current city.
Named after Mohawk Chief Thayendanegea (also known as Joseph Brant), who allied his people with the British during the American Revolution and ultimately led to them receiving a land grant for the area at the site of the current city. The original Mohawk settlement was at a location favourable for landing canoes, which quickly became known as Brant's ford.
Named after Sir Isaac Brock in 1812 by the settlement's residents in honour of his service to Upper Canada. The original name, Elizabethtown, had been selected by government officials but was unpopular with residents, who opted to use Brockville until it was officially changed several years later.
The city received its name in 1973 following the amalgamation of the towns of Galt, Preston and Hespeler into a single municipality. The name Cambridge originates from Preston's name prior to 1834, Cambridge Mills.[78][79]
Named after John Dryden, who served as Ontario's Minister of Agriculture in 1895 and founded the settlement as an agricultural community after visiting the area.[81]
Named to honour Britain's royal family, the Hanoverians, who were descended from the Guelfs, the ancestral family of George IV, the reigning British monarch; thus the nickname The Royal City.
Named after the nearby lakes of the same name, which are an Anglicization of the Anishinaabe word Ka-wa-tha, meaning "land of reflections". The name was later changed to Kawartha, which means "bright waters and happy lands".[82]
The name is a portmanteau of the names of the three towns which amalgamated in 1905 to form the present-day city: Keewatin, Norman and Rat Portage.[83]
Originally referred to as "the King's Town", the name was shortened to Kingston in 1788.[84][85] The settlement's original name, Cataraqui, likely was derived from an Iroquois word meaning "the place where one hides".[86]
Originally named Berlin thanks to the German heritage of many of its citizens, in 1916 the city changed its name to Kitchener in response to anti-German sentiment during the First World War. The name Kitchener was suggested in honour of British military officer Horatio Herbert Kitchener, who had died that same year.[87] The other options in the referendum were Adanac, Brock, Benton, Corona, and Keowana.
Named after the eponymous waterfalls. There are differing theories as to the origin of the word "Niagara", with one theory suggesting the name is derived from a local tribe named the Niagagarega, and another theory suggesting it is an Anglicization of the word "Ongniaahra", meaning "point of land cut in two".[88][89]
The first recorded use of the name Orillia was in 1820 by Sir Peregrine Maitland, then-Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. There is no record as to the meaning of the name, however the most common explanation is that it originates from the Spanish word "orilla", which means the shore of a lake or river.
The Ottawa Valley was the traditional home of the Algonquin people (Anishinaabe) who called the Ottawa River the Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi' meaning "Great River" or "Grand River".[93][94][95][96][97] Despite the name of the city, the Ottawa people, another First Nation who lived far to the west along Georgian Bay and Lake Huron never lived in the area, but rather maintained a trade route along the Ottawa River for a relatively short time.[98]
The area of the present city was named Owen Sound by William Fitzwilliam Owen in 1815 after his older brother, Admiral Edward Owen. The settlement received its current name in 1851. It had previously been known as Sydenham.
Named after Peter Robinson, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and the man primarily responsible for the 1825 emigration plans which saw Irish immigrants settle in the area.
Named for its location on the western end of the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario. The name Quinte is derived from the French name "Kenté", which was the name of a French Catholic mission in the area.[100]
Named for the rapids in the St. Mary's River. The city shares its name with Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, as they were a singular community prior to the establishment of the Canadian-United States border.
The origins of the name are obscure, but it is thought that the city is named after Catharine Askin Robertson Hamilton, who was the wife of Robert Hamilton, a prominent businessman.[102]
Named after neighbouring Lake Timiskaming, which means "deep waters" in Algonquin. The city received its name in 2004 following the amalgamation of New Liskeard, Haileybury, and Dymond.
Named for the bay on which the city is located, which was originally labelled Baie du Tonnerre on French maps in the 17th century. The name was chosen by referendum in 1969 with the merger of the cities of Fort William and Port Arthur.
Named after the Welland Canal, which formerly ran directly through downtown Welland. The name Welland is derived from the River Welland in Lincolnshire, England.
Named after the saskatoon berry. The berry's name is an anglicization of the Cree word misâskwatômina, meaning “the fruit of the tree of many branches”.[116]
Named after the Swift Current Creek, which was originally called Riviere au Couran by the Metis. That name was likely inspired by the Cree name for the South Saskatchewan River, Kisiskâciwan, which means "fast flowing river".[117]
The origin of the city's name is disputed. One story is that the city is named after a worker who supervised the building of the railroad in the area. Another story is the name came from a Scottish man who exclaimed "Wee Burn!" after stumbling upon the Souris River on a hot day.[119]
The name of the city is inspired by the York Farmers' Colonization Company, which led the founding and initial settlement of the community. Originally named York Colony, it was changed to Yorkton in 1884.[120]
^Talbot, "The Making of a Great Canadian Railway...The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway," (1912, The Musson Book Co.), at p. 318-19; BC Names entry "Prince Rupert (city)"
^"Brampton's Beginning" in Brampton's 100th Anniversary as an Incorporated Town: 1873-1973", Brampton: The Corporation of the Town of Brampton and the Brampton Centennial Committee, 1973, originally published in Ross Cumming, ed., "Historical Atlas of Peel County", n.p.: Walker and Miles, 1877.
^Rayburn, Alan Place Names of Ontario (University of Toronto Press), Toronto-Buffalo-London,1997, ISBN0-8020-7207-0), pg.48
^"Settlement Along the Ottawa River"(PDF). Ottawa River Heritage Designation Committee (Ontario Ministry of Culture). 2008. p. 1. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
