# Apocryphal story about Canada's name

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocryphal-story-about-canadas-name/305172>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocryphal-story-about-canadas-name/305172 "2005-05-23T21:56:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jon\_the\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jon\_the\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jon_the_Geek)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocryphal-story-about-canadas-name/305172/1 "2005-05-23T21:56:07Z")

</div>

I heard somewhere that Canada meant “village” in one of the native dialects (Wikipedia says “Huron-Iroquoian” in the article about [Canada’s name](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%27s_name)). The story I heard is _similar_ to the main one listed in that article, except more humorous. It said that the native’s kept replying “kanata” (village) whenever Europeans asked what they called some particular place, so the Europeans took it to mean that the entire country was called Canada.

I’d like to find a source for this to list as an apocryphal version (if it proves to be so) in that Canada’s name article, unless it only exists in my brain. Any help? 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocryphal-story-about-canadas-name/305172/2 "2005-05-24T00:07:35Z")

</div>

This [Historica Minute](http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10123) may be more what you’re looking for. The synopsis in the Wikipedia article seems to just summarize it.