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History General

Naming Canada

Stories about Canadian Place Names

by (author) Alan Rayburn

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Mar 2001
Category
General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802047250
    Publish Date
    Mar 2001
    List Price
    $75.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442679337
    Publish Date
    Apr 2001
    List Price
    $87.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802069900
    Publish Date
    Aug 1994
    List Price
    $24.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802082930
    Publish Date
    Mar 2001
    List Price
    $35.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Description

This wonderful collection of 76 essays explores the fascinating origin and meaning of the names of some of the towns, villages, cities, islands, mountains, and rivers that make up one of the world's largest countries. This new edition includes fifteen more essays, and updates the previous essays to include changes, corrections and new names to the year 2000.

Discover how some of Canada's most unusual place names came to be; unearth the Aboriginal roots of names such as Miramichi, Klondike, Iqaluit, Toronto, and Ottawa; learn the origin of such playful and mellifluous names as Medicine Hat, Twillingate, Flin Flon, Cupids, or Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! From Bonavista and Port au Choix in the east, to Malaspina Strait and Port Alberni in the west, this book also reveals the rich Portuguese, Spanish, and Basque contributions to Canada's toponymic heritage. Naming Canada tells us about place names that became undesirable and had to be changed for reasons of perceived political impropriety. The former Stalin Township, for example, was renamed after Rick Hansen, the renowned Man in Motion, who promoted research in spinal cord injuries. The book also discusses Canadian names that have been exported abroad, such as Quebec in England and Toronto in Australia. One new essay explores the nicknames used for Canadian places, and focuses on Hogtown as an alternative for Toronto.

This collection is the best single source, in an engaging essay format, on the origin and meaning of hundreds of Canadian place names. Alan Rayburn has had over 35 years' experience in researching Canada's toponymic roots and in writing about the authentic backgrounds behind thousands of names, from Toronto in the south to Tukyoyaktuk in the north, and from Labrador in the east to Juan de Fuca Strait in the west.

About the author

Alan Rayburn is the former executive secretary of the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. He has written some 150 books, papers and articles in the toponymic field.

Alan Rayburn's profile page