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Name Origin

The name "Canada" is believed to have originated from a Huron-Iroquoian word, Kanata meaning "village" or "settlement" or "collection of huts" , referring to Stadacona, a settlement on the site of present-day Quebec City. Maps made by early European explorers show that the name River Canada was given to the Ottawa River, and the Saint Lawrence River below Montreal. A plausible hypothesis is that the river was named for the village on its banks, and the surrounding country for the river used to explore it.

An apocryphal explanation of the origin of the name is that Spanish cartographers, reflecting the fact that Spaniards had not explored the northern part of the continent, wrote ‘Aca nada’ on that part of their maps. This is translated as ‘Here, nothing’.

Selection of the name ‘Canada’

At the conferences held in London to determine the form of confederation that would unite the Province of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec), the Province of New Brunswick and the Province of Nova Scotia, a delegate from either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick proposed the name ‘Canada’ in February 1867, and it was unanimously accepted by the other delegates. There appears to have been little discussion. (1)

Adoption of ‘Dominion of Canada’

In 1867 through confederation, the British North America Act created "one Dominion under the Name of Canada".

At the time of the Charlottetown Conference, Sir John A. Macdonald, who later became the first prime minister of Canada, had talked of ‘founding a great British monarchy, in connection with the British Empire’.

Officials at the Colonial Office in London, however, opposed what they saw as a ‘premature’ and ‘pretentious’ title for the new country, and feared antagonizing of anti-monarchist sentiment in the United States. (1) "Dominion" would also to reflect Canada's status as a self-governing colony of the British Empire -- in fact, Canada was the first country to be so termed. Notwithstanding historical precedents for the term "dominion", the country's name and motto are often linked to Psalms 72:8 and Zechariah 9:10: "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth."

Adoption of ‘Canada’

Until the 1960s, the term Dominion of Canada was commonly used to identify the country. As Canada increasingly acquired political authority and autonomy from the United Kingdom, the federal government increasingly began using the name Canada on official state documents and treaties. The Canada Act 1982 refers merely to Canada and, as such, is the current official shortform (as well as bilingual) name in use. Later in 1982, this was reflected in the renaming of the national holiday from Dominion Day to Canada Day.

Canada is also the official longform name most commonly used. Some contend that usage of the Dominion of Canada is still proper and is the country's "official" longform name. The Canada Act 1867 (British North America Act), section 3, created "one Dominion under the name of Canada," and while the Canada Act 1982 does not use the term, neither does it amend the earlier usage. In any event, the Dominion of Canada or Dominion is still rarely used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces.

Other proposed names

While the provinces’ delegates spent little time, if any, in settling on ‘Canada’ as the name for the new country, others proposed a variety of other names.

• Albion
• Albionoria - "Albion of the north"
• Borealia – from ‘borealis’, the Latin word for ‘northern'; compare with Australia,
• Cabotia – in honour of Italian explorer John Cabot, who explored the eastern coast of Canada for England
• Colonia
• Efisga - an acronym of "English, French, Irish, Scottish, German, Aboriginal"
• Hochelaga – an old name for Montreal
• Mesopelagia - "land between the seas"
• Norland
• Superior
• Tuponia - derived from 'The United Provinces of North America'
• Ursalia - "place of bears"
• Vesperia - "land of the evening star"
• Victorialand – in honour of Queen Victoria

Walter Bagehot of the Economist newspaper in London argued that the new nation should be called ‘Northland’ or ‘Anglia’ instead of Canada. (2)

On these names, the statesman Thomas D'Arcy McGee commented, "Now I would ask any honourable member of the House how he would feel if he woke up some fine morning and found himself, instead of a Canadian, a Tuponian or a Hochelagander?"

Sources:

(1) Donald Crieghton, The Road to Confederation, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1956, p. 421

(2) Christopher Moore: 1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1997, p. 214