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
 Alberta
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
 British Columbia
Latin Referring to the British sector of the Columbia District, after the Columbia River, ultimately after the Columbia Rediviva, a reference to Christopher Columbus
 Manitoba
Cree, Ojibwe. or Assiniboine manitou-wapow, manidoobaa, or minnetoba "Straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit" or "Lake of the Prairie", after Lake Manitoba
 New Brunswick
German (ultimately from Low German) Brunswiek Combination of Bruno and wik, referring to a place where merchants rested and stored their goods
 Newfoundland and Labrador
Portuguese Terra Nova and Lavrador "New land", and the surname of João Fernandes Lavrador, meaning "farmer" or "plower"
 Northwest Territories
English Referring to the territory's position relative to Rupert's Land
 Nova Scotia
Latin "New Scotland", referring to the country Scotland, derived from the Latin Scoti, the term applied to Gaels
 Nunavut
Inuktitut Nunavut means "Our land" in the Inuit language
 Ontario
Iroquoian, Wyandot Ontarí꞉io or Skanadario "Great lake" or "beautiful water", after Lake Ontario
 Prince Edward Island
English (ultimately from Old English) After Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, ultimately from the Anglo-Saxon ead "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and weard "guardian, protector"
 Quebec
Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, Ojibwe kébec "Where the river narrows", referring to the narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River at Quebec City
 Saskatchewan
Cree kisiskāciwani-sīpiy "Swift-flowing river", after the Saskatchewan River
 Yukon
Gwichʼin chųų gąįį han "White water river", after the Yukon River

Historical regions

  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.
  2. Possibly derived from the Míkmaq word akatik, pronounced roughly "agadik", meaning "place", which French-speakers spelled as -cadie in place names such as Shubenacadie and Tracadie, possibly coincidentally.

See also


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