Genealogical historians quickly learn to appreciate the value of geographical clues when researching families. In the process, we stub our figurative toes against place names that make us wonder how a place ever received such a unique handle.

We also learn that world events influenced place names, as when the far-distant battles of the Crimean War of the 1850s led to the naming of Inkerman, NB, and Karsdale, NS (Inkerman, in what is now Ukraine, and Kars, Turkey, were both locations of battles during that war).

Atlantic Canada has been blessed with so much delightful toponymy that it is hard to know where to begin, so let’s start where Canada started: Newfoundland.

There were so many shipwrecks on the Avalon coast that the French spoke of the many who died there as les trépassés (the dead), hence the name Trepassy. On the west side of that province, a large waterfall plunges 300 metres from a cliff, making a loud noise, or Grand Bruit.

Europeans (specifically, the Norse) first had a presence on this continent in northern Newfoundland, at a place we now know as L’Anse aux Meadows. French migratory fishermen originally named the area L’Anse aux Méduses—Jellyfish Cove—and the current name is an English corruption of that. The fact that the landscape in the area features plenty of open meadows may have been a contributing factor, as well.

There are many other misleading names in the region. Mermaid, PEI, is not where anyone sighted such a nautical beauty, but reminds us that, 250 years ago, HMS Mermaid patrolled those waters. The unattractive-sounding cove in Antigonish County, NS, got its name from HMS Malignant, which was wrecked there.

You may chuckle at some of our oddly christened places. Trousers Lake, NB, gets its name from the fact that it divides into two long sections, known as Right Hand Leg and Left Hand Leg. A place on the Letang River, east of St. George, NB, where the rowing or paddling was tough, became known as Pull and Be Damned Narrows; similarly, Push and Be Damned Rapids is found in Gloucester County, NB. An estuary in Charlotte County boasts the title of Old Sow because the whirlpool, caused by the spinning of the tidal currents, is said to sound like a pig’s roar.

Newfoundland may be in contention as the world champion for creative names applied to bodies of water. Cut Throat Harbour? Jigger Tickle? Nipper Harbour? The Labrador harbour recalls the cut-throater, the man preparing cod for salting. A tickle is a narrow strait between two land masses, while a jigger is a piece of lead with hooks on the bottom. By jerking it suddenly, you might catch a fish. The largest mosquito gave a serious bite, hence it was a nipper. Slambang Bay in Labrador refers to the experience of many a skipper who encountered a sudden “williwaw”—gust of wind blowing offshore—which caused salt fish to slam together in a heap.

In western PEI we find Travellers Rest. When there was no more than a bridle path from Charlottetown to the west end of the province, the government built log houses at intervals with a fireplace and dry logs for the relief of travellers. Smugglers Cove in Digby County, NS, got its name during American Prohibition for evident reasons.

Mahone Bay on Nova Scotia’s South Shore has a name that often baffles visitors. A low-slung pirate ship was, in French, a mahonne. By coincidence, the pirate ship Young Teaser was chased into the bay and scuttled. Local lore claims that a phantom ship returns to the bay late each June.

Once again, I must acknowledge William Hamilton’s book, Place Names of Atlantic Canada, which gave me several points of reference in my research on this topic; it may help you as well.

 

Dr. Terrence M. Punch is the author of the series Some Early Scots in Maritime Canada. He was named a member of the Order of Canada last year.