List of Canada city name etymologies
City Language of origin Explanation
Airdrie Scottish Gaelic Named for Airdrie , North Lanarkshire , in Scotland . Possibly originally from Gaelic An Àrd Ruigh meaning a level height or high pasture
Brooks English Named for Noel Edgell Brooks , a Canadian Pacific Railway Divisional Engineer from Calgary . Brooks ' name was chosen through a contest in 1904
Calgary Scottish Gaelic Named for Calgary , Mull , which originated from the Scottish Gaelic Cala ghearraidh , meaning beach of the meadow ( pasture ) . The name was suggested by Colonel James Macleod , Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police , who had stayed at Calgary Castle
Camrose English There is no factual evidence to explain why the city was named Camrose . It is suspected that it is named after the village of Camrose in Pembrokeshire , South Wales
Chestermere English Named after Chestermere Lake , a man-made reservoir built in 1880
Cold Lake English Named after the nearby lake , which was named for its cold and deep water
Edmonton English Named for Edmonton , London
Fort Saskatchewan English Named after a fort built by the North-West Mounted Police in 1875
Grande Prairie French Named for its location , literally it means great meadow or big prairie
Lacombe French Named for Albert Lacombe , a French-Canadian Roman Catholic Oblate missionary who lived among and evangelized the Cree and Blackfoot First Nations of western Canada
Leduc French While the city is named after Father Hippolyte Leduc , a French-Canadian priest who served in the area , there is a dispute over how the designation became official . One story is that the settlement was named after Leduc by the Minister of the Interior , Edgar Dewdney . The other story is that the settler who established the local telegraph office , which required a name to be associated with it , decided to name the settlement after the first person to walk through the door of the office , who turned out to be Leduc
Lethbridge English Named for William Lethbridge
Lloydminster English Named for George Lloyd , who at the time was the bishop of the Diocese of Saskatchewan
Medicine Hat English / Blackfoot Translation of Blackfoot Saamis , a type of headdress worn by medicine men
Red Deer English / Cree Mistranslation into English of the Cree name for the Red Deer River , Waskasoo Seepee , which means Wapiti River or Elk River . North American elk ( aka Wapiti ) are often confused with European Red Deer
Spruce Grove English Named after the groves of spruce trees which were common in the area
St. Albert French Named by Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché after Father Albert Lacombe and his patron name saint Albert of Louvain
Wetaskiwin Cree Translation of the Cree word 'wītaskiwinihk ' , meaning the hills where peace was made
Alberta
This page lists the etymologies of the names of cities across Canada.