Largest Cities in Canada With an Indigenous Name
When naming a village, Canadian settlers looked to a variety of sources. Sometimes they’d name it for a resident or a famous person. Sometimes they’d name it for their hometown. The names of many of Canada’s largest cities, however, are derived from an Indigenous word.
Most of the names are descriptive of the land or animals in the area, such as Oshawa and Coquitlam. Others, like Mississauga, are named for the First Nation whose land the city was founded on. In the case of Kelowna, the name began as an offhand joke among Salish friends. Here are the ten most populous cities in Canada with names of Indigenous origin.