This article lists the etymologies of the names of the provinces and territories of Canada.
Provinces and territories
{|class="wikitable sortable sticky-header" style=text-align:left" style="margin:1em auto;"
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! Name !! Language of origin !! Word(s) in original language !! Meaning and notes
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| <br>100px || 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
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| <br>100px || Latin || || Referring to the British sector of the Columbia District, after the Columbia River, ultimately after the Columbia Rediviva, a reference to Christopher Columbus
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| <br>100px || Cree, Ojibwe. or Assiniboine || manitou-wapow, manidoobaa, or minnetoba || "Straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit" or "Lake of the Prairie", after Lake Manitoba
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| <br>100px || German (ultimately from Low German) || || Combination of Bruno and wik, referring to a place where merchants rested and stored their goods
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| <br>100px || Portuguese || and || "New land", and the surname of João Fernandes Lavrador, meaning "farmer" or "plower"
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| <br>100px || English || || Referring to the territory's position relative to Rupert's Land
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| <br>100px || Latin || || "New Scotland", referring to the country Scotland, derived from the Latin , the term applied to Gaels
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| <br>100px || Inuktitut || || Nunavut means "Our land" in the Inuit language
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| <br>100px || Iroquoian, Wyandot || Ontarí꞉io or Skanadario || "Great lake" or "beautiful water", after Lake Ontario
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| <br>100px || English (ultimately from Old English) || || After Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, ultimately from the Anglo-Saxon "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and "guardian, protector"
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| <br>100px || Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, Ojibwe || || "Where the river narrows", referring to the narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River at Quebec City
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| <br>100px || Cree || || "Swift-flowing river", after the Saskatchewan River
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| <br>100px || Gwichʼin || || "White water river", after the Yukon 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.
- District of Keewatin: Algonquian roots—either () in Cree or () in Ojibwe—both of which mean 'north wind' in their respective languages.
- Nunatsiavut: Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land".
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
- Toponymy of Nova Scotia