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Geographical Names

Last updated on May 22, 2025

Place Naming: BC Geographical Names Office

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About the BC Geographical Names Office

The BC Geographical Names Office (BCGNO) is responsible for naming geographical features and managing all official place names in the province of British Columbia. As part of Heritage Branch, the BCGNO maintains the list of all past and present official names in British Columbia, which are fundamental to the official base map of British Columbia, and manages name changes of natural features (land forms and waterways). Prior to 1980, these decisions were made at the federal level.

Geographical names are essential for communication and navigation but also represent much more. They reflect the values of communities or decision makers at the times the names were created and continue to influence how we view, understand, interact with, and remember places and their histories.  

British Columbia includes many diverse cultures from First Nations and settler communities; embracing our diversity through place names helps protect our culture and heritage and gives all British Columbians and our visitors a better awareness of where we live. Learning more about First Nations and other place names in your area can deepen your understanding of the history and significance of a place. 

The BCGNO is responsible for naming features such as lakes, rivers, mountains, islands and bays. The jurisdiction of the office also includes unincorporated inhabited areas such as present and past communities or settlements.

Other jurisdictions are responsible for naming highways, bridges and other types of legally defined areas such as municipalities, parks and protected areas. Local and regional governments maintain naming authority over infrastructure within their boundaries such as streets and plazas, and municipal parks (but not the geographical features within those parks).

BC Geographical Names Information System

BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS) is the authoritative database for place names in British Columbia and is the reference source for all official maps and charts created nationally or internationally. This multi-component system is accessed by approximately three million users per year.

BCGNIS contains the master database of B.C. place names and holds approximately 50,000 current and former B.C. names. Brief notes about provenance and significance accompany approximately 50% of the place name records. All names and location details are searchable on this database. Origin notes are added when available, on an ongoing basis. There are different ways to use the map to make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for.  

To search for a B.C. geographical name:

Launch App: BC Geographical Names

“Name record” is a term used to refer to the official adoption document of a name. For example, when you open up a name by selecting “more information” that action opens the name record. Name records are established by comparing decision records, correspondence, maps, and other relevant documents to the history of a name that led to it being made official. The decisions are made public through the “origin notes” feature of the BCGNO database. Origin notes are updated to reflect the history of a name (they may include its origin, adoption, potential other names used, and more). Some name records even have audio files to help with pronunciation. 

The Gazetteer

The Gazetteer of British Columbia is a listing of all 41,000+ official geographical names in the province, extracted from the BC Geographical Names Information System. For many years Gazetteers were published annually, but now the Gazetteer is regularly updated and its information can be downloaded, used, and shared. Gazetteers can be used to confirm if a name is official, check the spelling, confirm the details of a feature (for example, the mouth of a creek), and more. 

The Gazetteer is downloadable free of charge. 

Download the Gazetteer

 

Using the BC Geographical Names Web App

Content advisory: Some place names and name records on the BC Geographical Names Web App contain historical terminology that is considered racist, offensive and derogatory. The BC Geographical Names Office is in the process of addressing offensive place names, and work to achieve this is ongoing.

Launch App: BC Geographical Names

Useful tools 

Sounds like 

Even if you don’t have the spelling quite right, a search will return name records that are close to, or sound like, what you’ve searched.  

More information 

After searching for a name, the map will be filled with blue pin icons that represent search results. Select a pin, then choose “More Information” to see details of the name (feature type, status, name authority, relative location, tags, pronunciation, latitude-longitude, datum, NTS map, origin notes and history, and sometimes an audio file of how to pronounce the name). 

Pronouncing First Nations Place Names 

To help with pronunciation, some First Nations names in the Web App have audio clips or simple text pronunciation keys. The blue speaker icon can be clicked to hear a name and pronunciation keys are in square brackets. See the name records below for examples of each:  

Nearby names 

After selecting a pin, you can select “nearby names” from the information menu. Selecting 5km or 10km will open pins for all the names within that distance you selected.  

Only official names/unofficial  

Names in the BCGNO database are categorized as “official” and “unofficial.” “Official” names are names that have been formally adopted and are consistently labeled on provincial and federal maps of British Columbia. “Unofficial” names are names that not labelled on provincial and federal maps, they may be former names, or recorded names. 

Filter your search by clicking the “official names only” box by the search bar if you want to see official names only 

Ways of searching 

By Place Names (default setting) 

1. In the search bar enter the place name you’re looking for

2. Select the magnifying glass to search  

3. Select “More Options” to narrow your search results. You can limit results by filtering by feature type, naming authority, and tag 

Changes by date 

Changes by date will return results that have had their name record altered within the selected range. This can be useful for seeing recently updated names, as the BCGNO is working hard to make more notes public. 

1. From the drop down menu next to “Search” select “changes by date” 

2. Enter your selected date range 

3. Select the magnifying glass to search 

Recent decisions 

Searching by recent decisions will return any names that have had decisions made in your selected range (e.g. 30 days). For example, name changes.  

Near a point 

Near a point is a tool that will return results based on a specific location within a 5 or 10 kilometer range. You can enter the latitude and longitude, or you can select a point on the map. This is useful to see all the names in an area. 

In the current map area 

In the Current Map Area allows you to select a portion of the map and then see all the names in the area. By zooming in and out you can be more and less specific with your search. For example, if you zoom all the way out and select “search the map now,” over 41,000 results will be returned. You can zoom in on specific areas to bring this number down.  

Tagged names 

Some name records have “tags” attached to them. Tags are added in the database and help group names together by theme. Selecting one of these tags, and pressing search, will make all the place names with that tag appear. Please see the Indigenous Tag section below for more information.

Filtering searches

Searches can also be filtered by Feature Type, Name Authority or Tag. For example you can search in a map area, then click on "more options" in the top menu to open a side tab which presents drop-down menus to choose from.

 

Showcase Maps 

Use interactive maps to explore and discover special groupings of place name records in the BC Geographical Names Information System.    

 

Indigenous Place Names

British Columbia is home to 34 Indigenous languages and 90+ dialects; the most linguistically diverse province in Canada. Indigenous Peoples have always named places and Indigenous place names, especially in the original languages of the land, help tell the story and deep history of this place we know today as British Columbia.

Place names reflect the cultural history and heritage values of the province. Learning place names can enable a deeper understanding of the history and significance of a place.

While most B.C. place names in the BCGNIS (and therefore labelled on maps) are in the English language, there are many names in B.C. that have Indigenous origins or roots that have been anglicized, poorly interpreted or applied to something for which the original name was never intended. Please see the Indigenous Tag section below for information.

Examples of such names are Nanaimo, Kelowna, and Shuswap.

The BCGNO is committed to working respectfully with Indigenous governments and communities to better recognize their geographical names, languages, orthographies, and naming conventions.

See the Showcase Maps section (under 'Using the BC Geographical Names Web App' heading above) for maps with thematic groupings.

Explore more name records on the BC Geographical Names web app.

 Pronunciation Guidance and Indigenous Orthographies

The BCGNIS supports several unique characters and orthographies. To assist with proper pronunciation, some name records feature sound clips and written phonetic pronunciation instructions. Select 'more information' within the web app to access the detailed name record and click on the speaker icon to listen.

  • Click to access record and pronunciation for Gwinmilit
  • Click to access record and pronunciation guide for Hucuktlis Lake

The BCGNO understands and respects the importance of Indigenous writing systems (orthographies), and supports UTF-8 character-encoding to ensure successful data replication across all mapping systems. In the rare event that the BCGNIS is unable to support a special character that is unique to an Indigenous orthography, then the correct spelling will be shown as an image on the name record and an agreed upon 'map label' will be used.

See examples of name records with special characters.

 

Indigenous Tag

Indigenous place names have existed for thousands of years, reflecting deep connections to land, water, and community. Colonial mapping practices often disregarded these names, replacing them with new colonial names or interpretations of First Nations names that did not always reflect their original meaning. The Indigenous tag is for all place names, official and recorded, in the BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS) with origins from any Indigenous language (words, terms, place names) or connection to Indigenous people or histories. 

Most names with the Indigenous tag come from First Nations languages spoken in B.C. long before European exploration and colonialism. There are also some names with this tag that derive from other Indigenous languages, cultures, or people; for instance, Skookumchuck Narrows is derived from Chinook Jargon, and Calliou Creek commemorates a Metis person.

Indigenous tagged names can be accessed through the BC Geographical Names Web App, by searching Tagged Place Names and selecting "Indigenous". You can filter search results in the Web App by selecting "More Options". To see tagged names in a specific area, you can use location-based searches (Near me, Near a point, In the current map area) and then filter results by tag, under "More Options".  The dataset of the names with this tag is also available on the BC Data Catalogue.

Many other geographical names in BCGNIS likely have Indigenous origins, but they may not have been tagged due to gaps in historical records. There are also countless First Nations names in B.C. that are not in the BCGNIS. 

Names with this tag

Names with Indigenous origins are used daily (Haida Gwaii, Nanaimo, Sechelt, Coquihalla), sometimes by people who are unaware of where the names come from or that they are using an Indigenous name. Several official names in B.C. derive from Indigenous place names or words that were interpreted and recorded by early European settlers and may not accurately represent the original language. Where available, recorded information on the origin or significance of names in the BCGNIS can be found on the respective online name records, accessible through the BC Geographical Names Web App. The Province now works in partnership with First Nations to record and officially recognize their names in the orthographies (or writing systems) that properly represent their languages.

Examples of different types of names included in this tag:

The Indigenous tag encompasses a range of names, each with a distinct history. Below are categories of names included in the tag, reflecting different naming practices.

First Nations names:

Submitted directly from First Nations governments and communities in their preferred orthographies. For thousands of years First Nations in B.C. named the lands and waters in accordance with their naming conventions. These names were in well-established use long before European contact but were mostly disregarded and replaced during colonization. Working with First Nations governments and communities to recognize their names supports reconciliation, the implementation of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and is the fastest growing field of work for the BCGNO. The majority of these names have pronunciation tools available on their online name records to help learn them.

Anglicized First Nations names:

For many decades, some First Nations names were interpreted and recorded by non-Indigenous people using the English alphabet. This sometimes resulted in simplifying names, inaccurate translations, or First Nations words and terms being mistaken for place names.

Subjective words derived from Indigenous languages:

Historically, many places were named using Indigenous words subjectively selected by government representatives. For example, it was common for early surveyors to use "Indian Dictionaries" to create geographical names for maps and charts. Occasionally, words from Indigenous languages from outside of B.C. were used for official names. Like anglicized First Nations names, these names and their translations are interpretations of Indigenous languages by non-Indigenous people using the English alphabet and may not accurately reflect the original language.

Commemorative names for Indigenous people:

There are many commemorative names for Indigenous people, often for prominent chiefs, local trappers, or exploration guides. Many of these names were chosen by government representatives. Naming places to honour individuals is a very common European practice but historically done rarely by Indigenous communities. There are also many places named after a nearby First Nations community.

Names without origin information:

Some of the Indigenous names in the BCGNIS do not include information on their origins for various reasons. There were several colonial policies designed to disrupt Indigenous cultures and the transmission of Indigenous knowledge which have had lasting consequences, including the loss of long-standing First Nations place names or the meaning and origin of the name. There are also many geographical names that were recorded by government representatives that did not include information on the meaning, language, or community it came from.

Discover more Indigenous-tagged names by exploring the web app:

Launch App: BC Geographical Names

 

How geographical naming works: Naming Policy and Procedures

The BC Geographical Names Office (BCGNO), within the Heritage Branch, makes place naming decisions in accordance with the BC Geographical Naming Policy and Procedures. Under the policy, the office initiates an engagement period to request comments from First Nations and local governments whose territories and boundaries a feature is within, and from organizations impacted by a proposed name (e.g. search and rescue groups).

The information required to make a formal proposal to rescind (remove) or to replace a geographical name is included in the policy document.

The British Columbia Geographical Naming Policy states that proposals for commemorative naming may only be considered after 24 months have elapsed from the date of passing, and only where there is broad demonstrated support of significant contribution by that person to an area. This is in line with policies in other jurisdictions across Canada and is intended to provide time for careful reflection on how best to commemorate the memory of an individual, and to encourage objective consideration and discussion at the local level prior to submission of a formal geographical name proposal.

The Policy also states that the investigation of each proposal will include gathering comments on suitability, existence of a local name, and probable degree of acceptance of the proposed names from a variety of community representation including local First Nations. As part of every naming process, invitations to comment on the naming proposal are sent to municipalities, regional districts and all First Nations governments whose territories the feature is in, as well as to regional organizations. Once an application is accepted and the name change process is initiated, generally the time required to collect comments takes 10 to 12 months.

If a place naming decision is made, the name record in the BCGNIS is adjusted (added, changed, rescinded). A robust notification process follows to ensure everyone is aware of the change and official maps are adjusted.

 

Making a place naming proposal

Proposing a Name, Removing a Name, or Changing a Name

Changing a place name consists of several steps. The processes to remove or rescind a place name and adopt a new name are similar, but establishing new names contains extra steps to ensure the new name is best suited for adoption.  All proposals will be shared for comment with respective local and First Nations governments whose boundaries and territories include the feature, as well as with relevant regional organizations.

1. Name change initiated by member of the public

2. Name change application received by BCGNO and reviewed. 

  • Note: Only complete application packages will be considered. 
  • Names that will likely be considered for changing: removal/rescinding of racist and derogatory names, restoring First Nations place names, and names that meet standards established in the BC Geographical Naming Policy (the Policy).
  • Names that won’t be considered for adoption: Discriminatory or derogatory names; Company or commercial product names (unless there is long-standing local usage of the name); Commemorative names of living people or within two years of the passing of individual being commemorated; Names that are only in the interest of a single or special group; Names that violate other aspects of the Policy.

3. Engagement with affected groups about how the proposal would impact them and if there are other existing names (for new name proposals). Engagement includes requesting comments from First Nations governments, local governments, regional organizations, search and rescue, and others. 

4. Comments are evaluated and a decision is reached (approve, defer or reject) to adopt, rescind or re-name the feature. 

5. A robust notification process follows to ensure everyone is aware of any changes, and that official maps are adjusted accordingly.

Submitting a Naming Proposal 

The BCGNO does not initiate any new names or name changes. A proposal to change, add or rescind a geographical name is required before the BCGNO can consider changes. The office accepts hard copy proposals and proposals in electronic formats such as Word documents, PDF and Excel spreadsheets. 

A proposal to change a place name must include the following information: 

  • Contact information for proponent submitting the proposal

  • Proposed Place Name 

  • Current Official Name, if applicable 

  • Type of feature 

  • Geographical coordinates of the feature, such as longitude and latitude at the feature's mid-point, stream mouth, and stream headwaters (as appropriate)

  • Geographical extent of the feature (e.g. 'name applies to the entire mountain' or 'name applies to a specific peak on the mountain')

  • The meaning or significance of the proposed name 

  • Reason for name or name change 

  • Audio recordings that provide guidance on pronunciation

  • Images of the feature 

  • Description of all research undertaken, including letters of support from local governments, First Nations governments and relevant organizations, including their contact information

Recording Information in the BCGNIS

Recording a name can be a meaningful tool that follows a simplified process than proposing a formal name change. Recorded names are names that have been used historically but are unofficial, therefore not labelled on provincial and federal maps, and do not require community engagement. Recorded names can be important public awareness and educational resources that contain many of the same elements as an official name.

Origin and historical information can also be added to an existing name record, and requires appropriate sourcing.

 

Using the Data and Web Service

This section is intended for developers, researchers, programmers and other users, and includes information on data formats and how to extract the data.

For Developers  

The BC Geographical Names Information System includes a web service (the BC Geographical Names Web Service). The web service can be used by third-party application developers to incorporate name searches into other web sites and application. 

Visit the interactive API console that defines the capabilities of the BC Geographical Names Web Service

Using our information 

To cite material from the BCGNIS please follow these standards:

  • Origin Notes that are attributed to BC Place Name Cards: BC Geographical Names Office: BC Geographical Names Information System. [place name]. [link to name record]. [date accessed].  
  • Origin notes that are attributed to external sources (e.g. books, articles, websites) in the name record: Please use the original source attribution information in addition to BCGNIS [place name]. [link to name record]. [date accessed]. 

Downloading the Gazetteer  

The Gazetteer of British Columbia is a listing of all 41,000+ official geographical names in the province, extracted from the BC Geographical Names Information System, the master database of B.C. place names. The Gazetteer is downloadable free of charge. 

Formats available: 

  • BC Geographical Names custom download is a custom downloadable (output format, projection) spatial layer of the BC Gazetteer from the BC Data Catalogue. 
  • BC Gazetteer .csv is a self-extracting Comma Separated Values file that opens as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The file contains 41,000+ rows with the following values: Official Name; Feature Type; Feature Type Code: Mapsheet: Datum: Latitude: Longitude. Size = 3.0 MB 
  • BC Gazetteer .shp is a (compressed) standard ESRI point shapefile in decimal degrees. The file contains 41,000+ points with an accompanying attribute table containing data for each point: Official Name; Feature Type; Feature Type Code; Mapsheet; Datum; Latitude; Longitude. ZipFile Size: 2.5 MB 

The Gazetteer includes two documents:

  • Feature Definitions - a dictionary of the 200+ feature types identified with the province's official names 
  • Feature Type Codes and Categories - a hierarchical listing to help users customize their own subset of the Gazetteer 

Download the Gazetteer documents

 

Launch App: BC Geographical Names

Link to Naming Policy & Procedures

Explore the BC Geographical Names app

Contact information

B.C. Geographical Names Office

250 356-1432
geographical.names@gov.bc.ca

Media Contact:

Jill Nessel
250 880-3455
Jill.Nessel@gov.bc.ca