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A little while ago, Ian and I were discussing the origin of street names in our neighbourhood. A quick Google search was not particularly helpful, except for a result from Google Books, a book called British Columbia Place Names. We reserved it through the Vancouver Public Library and have really enjoyed flipping through it. The book is a labour of love by a former UBC English professor named G.P.V. Akrigg, and his wife Helen B. Akrigg, researched and written over a period of 30 years. Here are some of the entries we found really interesting:

Sasamat = may have been the Halkomelem name of an early Indian village at the mouth of Seymour River; can be translated as “lazy people”, but it is not know why the Seymour River people were so named. It was the original name for Burrard Inlet.

Trutch = named after Sir Joseph W. Truth, an English civil engineer who had worked in California and Oregon. He came to B.C. in 1859 and was Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor-General from 1864 to 1871, when he resigned to become the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.

Trimble = named after Dr. James Trimble, a surgeon in the Royal Navy who took up practice in Victoria in 1858. He became mayor of Victoria, then speaker of the provincial legislature from 1872 to 1878.

Tolmie = named after Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, a Scottish physician employed by H.B.C., who first came to this coast in 1833. He served in the Legislative Assembly from 1860 to 1865.

Cambie = named after Henry J. Cambie, born in County Tipperary, Ireland. He came to B.C. in 1874 to work on the railways, and was in charge of the Fraser Canyon stretch of the C.P.R.

Coal Harbour = named for the 1859 discovery of veins of coal here, ranging in thickness from 4″ to 15″.

Denman = after Rear-Admiral Joseph Denman, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station 1864-66.

English Bay = this and nearby Spanish Bank commemorate the meeting of the English (under Captain Vancouver) and the Spanish (under Galiano and Valdes) in this area in June 1792.

Granville = named for George Leveson-Gower, Earl Granville, Britain’s Secretary of State for the Colonies. Gastown was renamed Granville in 1870, before later being renamed Vancouver.

Point Grey = named by Captain Vancouver for his friend Captain George Grey of the Navy, who commanded H.M.S. Victory. Was originally named Punta de Langara by the Spanish, in honour of Admiral Don Juan de Langara.

Kitsilano = derived from the name of a Squamish Indian who came from a village on the Squamish River and settled in Stanley Park around 1860. When the C.P.R. wanted a name for the new subdivision created around 1905, Prof. Charles Hill-Tout suggested modifying this Squamish Indian’s name so that it corresponded to Capilano across the inlet.

Marpole = formerly Eburne, renamed in 1916 after Richard Marpole who was the superintendent of construction and operation for the C.P.R.’s Pacific Division.

Mission = takes its name from St. Mary’s Indian mission, founded by Father Fouquet in 1861.

Mary Hill (the infamous by-pass) = named after Colonel Moody’s wife Mary. A citadel was built here to protect New Westminster against any American invasion.

Jericho Beach = takes its name from Jeremiah (Jerry) Rogers; from his camp at Jerry’s Cove, Rogers started logging in Point Grey in 1864-5.

Howe Sound = named by Captain Vancouver after Admiral Richard Scrope, Earl of Howe, who was nicknamed “The Sailors’ Friend” and “Black Dick”.

Nanaimo = originally named Boca de Winthuysen, in honour of a Spanish naval officer. When the HBC established a settlement here in 1852 to work the coal deposits, it was named Colville Town, after the then-governor of the HBC. It became known as Nanaimo in 1858. The Indians in this area are known as the “Sne-ny-mo”, meaning “the people of many names”, in reference to the confederation formed by various villages in the area for their better protection.

Duke Point = faces Northumberland Channel, named after the Duke of Northumberland in 1852.

Lantzville = after Harry Lantz, an American who invested in a coal mine at Nanoose.

Coombs = named for Captain Thomas Coombs of the Salvation Army, which in 1910-11 established here a settlement for working-class Englishmen and their families from Leeds, Yorkshire.

Grice Bay = named after John Grice, Tofino’s first white settler in 1888, and later the local Justice of the Peace.

Coquihalla = from the Halkomelem word meaning “stingy container [of fish]”.

Buntzen Lake = named after Johannes Buntzen, a native of Denmark, who in 1897 was appointed the first general manager of the B.C. Electric Railway Company.

Burrard Inlet = named in 1792 after Captain Vancouver’s friend Sir Henry Burrard, his former shipmate aboard H.M.S. Europa in the West Indies in 1785.

Coquitlam = from the Halkomelem word meaning “stinking of fish slime”.

Ladner = named after the first white settlers, William H. Ladner and Thomas E. Ladner, who took up land here in 1868. They were from Cornwall, England and came to B.C. in 1858, prospecting and mining in the Cariboo before marrying two sisters, Mary and Edney Booth, and turning to agriculture.

Kitimat = Coast Tsimshian word meaning “people of the falling snow”. The Kitimat people called their village “Dsemosa”, meaning “the place of logs”, because during high tides, masses of logs would be washed up on the beach and remain there.

In looking up some of these places, we found an even better resource: the BC Geographical Name Information System.