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{{Short description|Etymology of the country's name}}{{Use mdy dates|date = April 2019}}{{Use Canadian English|date = April 2019}}(File:Dauphin Map of Canada - circa 1543 - Project Gutenberg etext 20110.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The Dauphin Map of Canada, c. 1543, showing Cartier's discoveries. Newfoundland is near the upper right; Florida and the Bahamas are at lower left)While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning 'village' or 'settlement'.BOOK, Olson, James Stuart,weblink Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism, Shadle, Robert, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991, 978-0-313-26257-9, 109, In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pp=14–22}} Cartier later used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject to Donnacona (the chief at Stadacona);{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pp=14–22}} by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this small region along the Saint Lawrence River as Canada.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pp=14–22}}From the 16th to the early 18th century, Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River.BOOK, Magocsi, Paul R.,weblink Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples, University of Toronto Press, 1999, 978-0-8020-2938-6, 1048, In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada. These two colonies were collectively named the Canadas until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841.WEB, 1841, An Act to Re-write the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada,weblink J.C. Fisher & W. Kimble, 20, Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the legal name for the new country at the London Conference, and the word Dominion was conferred as the country's title.BOOK, O'Toole, Roger, Holy Nations and Global Identities: Civil Religion, Nationalism, and Globalisation, Brill, 2009, 978-90-04-17828-1, Hvithamar, Annika, 137, Dominion of the Gods: Religious continuity and change in a Canadian context, Warburg, Margit, Jacobsen, Brian Arly, By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "Realm of the Commonwealth".BOOK, Morra, Irene,weblink The New Elizabethan Age: Culture, Society and National Identity after World War II, I.B.Tauris, 2016, 978-0-85772-867-8, 49, The government of Louis St. Laurent ended the practice of using Dominion in the statutes of Canada in 1951.WEB, November 8, 1951 (21st Parliament, 5th Session),weblink April 9, 2019, Canadian Hansard Dataset, JOURNAL, Bowden, J.W.J., 2015, 'Dominion': A Lament,weblink The Dorchester Review, 5, 2, 58–64, The Canada Act 1982, which brought the constitution of Canada fully under Canadian control, referred only to Canada. Later that year, the name of the national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day.BOOK, Canada and the British Empire, Oxford University Press, 2008, 978-0-19-927164-1, Buckner, Philip, 37–40, 56–59, 114, 124–125, The term Dominion was used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though after the Second World War the term federal had replaced dominion.BOOK, Courtney, John,weblink The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics, Smith, David, Oxford University Press, 2010, 978-0-19-533535-4, 114,

Etymology

File:Disegno del discoperto della Nova Franza (1565).png|thumb|A map of North AmericaNorth AmericaThe name Canada is now generally accepted as originating from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word ({{IPA|[kana:taʔ]}}), meaning 'village' or 'settlement'.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}}{{sfn|Mithun|1999|p=312}} Related translations include 'land' or 'town', with subsequent terminologies meaning 'cluster of dwellings' or 'collection of huts'.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}}BOOK, Hawkins, Alfred, John Charlton Fisher, Hawkins's Picture of Quebec: With Historical Recollections,weblink 1834, Printed for the proprietor by Neilson and Cowan, 7, in the note of Charlevoix, Nouvelle France, volume the first, page nine, of the quarto edition, and repeated in "Beautés de l'Histoire du Canada" affords the real solution of the difficulty: "Quelqu'uns derivent ce nom du mot Iroquois Kannata qui se prononce Cannada, et signifie un amas de cabanes;"–"Some derive this name from the Iroquois word Kannata, pronounced Cannada, signifying a collection of huts.", 111, This explanation is historically documented in Jacques Cartier's Bref récit et succincte narration de la navigation faite en MDXXXV et MDXXXVI.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}}Although the Laurentian language, which was spoken by the inhabitants of St. Lawrence Valley settlements such as Stadacona (modern-day Quebec City) and Hochelaga (modern-day Montreal) in the 16th century, is now extinct, it was closely related to other dialects of the Iroquoian languages, such as the Oneida and Mohawk languages. Related cognates meaning 'town' include , , and in the Mohawk, Onondaga, and Seneca languages respectively.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}} Prior to archeological confirmation that the St. Lawrence Iroquois were a separate people from the Mohawk, most sources specifically linked the name's origin to the Mohawk word instead of the Laurentian one.{{sfn|Johansen|1999|p=49}}File:Jacques Cartier 1934 issue-3c.jpg|thumb| A 1934 three-cent stamp commemorated the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Canada by the French navigator, Jacques CartierJacques CartierA widespread perception in Canadian folklore is that Cartier misunderstood the term "Canada" as the existing proper name of the Iroquois people's entire territory rather than the generic class noun for a town or village. For instance, the Historica Canada's Heritage Minute episode devoted to Cartier's landing at Hochelaga is scripted as having Cartier believe that "Kanata" or "Canada" was the established name of the entire country."Heritage Minutes: Jacques Cartier" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004212750weblink |date=2013-10-04 }}. Historica Foundation of Canada. This is not supported by Cartier's own writings, however—in Bref récit, Cartier fully understands the actual meaning of the word ("They call a town Canada"),{{sfn|Francis|Jones|Smith|2009|p=27}} and his earliest name for the wider territory is ""{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} ('country of Canadas',BOOK,weblink The Voyages of Jacques Cartier, Cook, Ramsay, University of Toronto Press, 2017, live,weblink 2017-02-02, 9781442658042, {{failed verification|date=November 2023|reason=The word "Canadas" does not appear in the source. (Or at least it cannot be found using the search.) The reference may be related to page 43: "Cartier gives the word [Canada] in his Indian vocabulary as meaning 'town.' "}} 'land of Canadas', or 'land of villages').While the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian origin for the name Canada is now widely accepted, other theories have been put forth in the past.

Iberian origin theory

The most common alternative theory suggested that the name originated when Portuguese or Spanish explorers, having explored the northern part of the continent and unable to find gold and silver, wrote ('nothing here' in Portuguese), or ('Cape Nothing' in Spanish) on that part of their maps.BOOK, John George Hodgins, The Geography and History of British America, and of the Other Colonies of the Empire: To which are Added a Sketch of the Various Indian Tribes of Canada, and Brief Biographical Notices of Eminent Persons Connected with the History of Canada,weblink 1858, Maclear & Company, 51, An alternative explanation favoured by philologist Marshall Elliott linked the name to the Spanish word (wikt:cañada|cañada), meaning 'glen' or 'valley'."Further Conjectures as to the Origin of the Name 'Canada'". The New York Times, September 5, 1908.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}}The earliest iterations of the Spanish "nothing here" theory stated that the explorers made the declaration upon visiting the Bay of Chaleur,Jefferys, Thomas. 1754. The Conduct of the French, with Regard to Nova Scotia. London: T. Jefferys. while later versions left out any identifying geographic detail.The known Portuguese presence in modern Canadian territory, meanwhile, was in Newfoundland and Labrador. Neither region is located anywhere near Iroquoian territory, and the name Canada does not appear on any Spanish or Portuguese maps of the North American coast that predate Cartier's visit.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}} No name for the Bay of Chaleur is attested at all in Spanish sources from that period, while the only name for Newfoundland attested in Portuguese sources is , after the region's plentiful cod.In most versions of the Iberian origin theory, the Spanish or Portuguese passed their name on to the Iroquois, who rapidly adopted it in place of their own prior word for a village;{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}} however, no historical evidence for any such Iberian-Iroquoian interaction has ever actually been found.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}} Elliott's "valley" theory, conversely, was that the Spanish gave their name for the area directly to Jacques Cartier, who then entirely ignored or passed over the virtually identical Iroquoian word.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}} According to Elliott, Cartier never explicitly stated that there was a direct connection between or as the Iroquoian word for 'village' and Canada as the new name of the entire territory, and never accounted for the spelling difference between and Canada—and thus the Spanish etymology had to be favoured because the spellings matched.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}} Notably, Cartier never wrote of having any awareness of any preexisting Spanish or Portuguese name for the region either, meaning that Elliott's allegation that the derivation was not adequately supported by Cartier's own writing on the matter was also true of his own preferred theory.Franciscan priest André Thevet claimed that the word derived from , an answer reportedly given by Spaniards in the St. Lawrence Valley area when asked what their purpose was; according to Thevet, the phrase meant that they were seeking landGervais Carpin, Histoire d'un mot: l'ethnonyme "canadien" de 1535-1691. Les Éditions de Septentrion, 1995. {{ISBN|9782894480366}}. p. 50. or that they were hunting.Olive Dickason, Le mythe du sauvage. Les Éditions de Septentrion, 1993. {{ISBN|9782921114967}}. p. 298. These words do not actually exist in Spanish, however.

Minor or humorous theories

British philologist B. Davies surmised that by the same process which initially saw the First Nations mislabelled as Indians, the country came to be named for the Carnata region of India or that region's Kannada ethnic group;Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, December 1861. p. 432. however, this theory has attracted no significant support from other academics.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}}Additional theories have attributed the name "Canada" to: a word in an unspecified indigenous language for 'mouth of the country' in reference to the Gulf of St. Lawrence;{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}} a Cree word for 'neat or clean';John Maclean, Canadian Savage Folk: The Native Tribes of Canada. C. W. Coates, 1986. a claimed Innu war cry of "kan-na-dun, Kunatun"; a shared Cree and Innu word, p'konata, which purportedly meant 'without a plan' or 'I don't know';Joseph Graham, Naming the Laurentians: A History of Place Names 'up North'. Les Éditions Main Street, 2005. {{ISBN|9780973958607}}. p. 65 a short-lived French colony purportedly established by a settler whose surname was Cane;{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}} Jacques Cartier's description elsewhere in his writings of Labrador as "the land God gave to Cain;" or, to a claim that the early French habitants demanded a "can a day" of spruce beer from the local intendant{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}} (a claim easily debunked by the facts that the habitants would have been speaking French, not English, and that canning did not exist until the 19th century).In their 1983 book The Anglo Guide to Survival in Québec, humourists Josh Freed and Jon Kalina tied the Iberian origin theory to the phrase nada mas caca ('nothing but shit'). No historian or linguist has ever analyzed this explanation as anything more than an obvious joke.Josh Freed and Jon Kalina, The Anglo Guide to Survival in Québec. Eden Press, 1983. {{ISBN|978-0920792339}}. p. 89.

Canadian

The demonym "Canadien" or "Canadian" once referred exclusively to the indigenous groups who were native to the territory.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}} Its use was extended over time to the French settlers of New France, and later the English settlers of Upper Canada.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}}

Colonial usage

New France

European explorer Jacques Cartier transcribed the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian word (pronounced {{IPA-iu|kanata|}}) as "Canada" and was the first European to use the word to refer not only to the village of Stadacona but also to the neighbouring region and to the Saint Lawrence River, which he called rivière de Canada during his second voyage in 1535.{{sfn|Marsh|1999|p=355}}BOOK, Roger E. Riendeau, A Brief History of Canada,weblink 2007, Infobase Publishing, 978-1-4381-0822-3, 27, live,weblink 2017-02-17, By the mid-1500s, European books and maps began referring to this region as Canada.{{sfn|Warkentin|Podruchny|2001|p=234}}Canada soon after became the name of a colony in New France that stretched along the St. Lawrence River.{{sfn|Warkentin|Podruchny|2001|p=234}}MCC. "Le territoire {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920111912weblink |date=2008-09-20 }}", in La Nouvelle-France. Ressources françaises, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France), 1998, retrieved 2 August 2008 The terms "Canada" and "New France" were often used interchangeably during the colonial period.{{sfn|Warkentin|Podruchny|2001|p=234}}

British North America

File:3p Castor Fleming 1851.jpg|left|thumb|An 1851 Province of Canada postage stamp, the 3 pence beaver ("Threepenny Beaver") ]]After the British conquest of New France (including ceding of the French colony, Canada) in 1763, the colony was renamed the Province of Quebec. Following the American Revolution and the influx of United Empire Loyalists into Quebec, the colony was split on 26 December 1791 into Upper and Lower Canada, sometime being collectively known as "The Canadas", the first time that the name "Canada" was used officially in the British regime.WEB,weblink Canadian Heritage - Origin of the Name - Canada, Pch.gc.ca, 2011-04-27, 2011-10-26, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20111012203538weblink">weblink 2011-10-12, Some reports from the 1840s suggest that in that era, the word "Canada" was commonly pronounced "Kaugh-na-daugh" rather than its more contemporary pronunciation.{{sfn|Orkin|2010|pp=38-43}}Upper and Lower Canada were merged into one colony, the Province of Canada, in 1841, based on the recommendations of the Durham Report.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}} The former colonies were then known as Canada East and Canada West, and a single legislature was established with equal representation from each. Underpopulated Canada West opposed demands by Canada East for representation by population, but the roles reversed as Canada West's population surpassed the east's. The single colony remained governed in this way until 1 July 1867, often with coalition governments. A new capital city was being built at Ottawa, chosen in 1857 by Queen Victoria, and became a national capital.

Selection of the name Canada

(File:Proclamation Canadian Confederation.jpg|thumb|Proclamation announcing the formation of one Dominion, under the name of CANADA, 1867|right)At the conferences held in London to determine the form of confederation that would unite the Province of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec), the province of New Brunswick, and the province of Nova Scotia, a delegate from either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick proposed the name Canada in February 1867, and it was unanimously accepted by the other delegates. There appears to have been little discussion,Creighton, Donald. 1956. The Road to Confederation. Houghton Mifflin: Boston; p. 421. though other names were suggested.

Other proposed names

While the provinces' delegates spent little time, if any, in settling on Canada as the name for the new country, others proposed a variety of other names:WEB,weblink How Canada Got Its Name â€” Origin of the Name Canada, Canadaonline.about.com, 2010-06-11, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101207073242weblink">weblink 2010-12-07, {{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=14–17}}

• Anglia â€“ the medieval Latin name for England
• Albionoria â€“ 'Albion of the north'
• Borealia â€“ from borealis, the Latin word for 'northern'; compare with Australia
• Cabotia â€“ in honour of Italian explorer John Cabot, who explored the eastern coast of Canada for England
• Colonia
• Efisga â€“ an acronym of English, French, Irish, Scottish, German, Aboriginal
• Hochelaga â€“ an old name for Montreal
• Laurentia
• Mesopelagia â€“ 'land between the seas'
• New Albion
• Norland
• Superior
• Tupona â€“ acronym for The United Provinces of North America
• Transatlantica
• Ursalia â€“ 'place of bears'
• Vesperia â€“ 'land of the evening star'
• Victorialand â€“ in honour of Queen Victoria

Walter Bagehot of The Economist newspaper in London argued that the new nation should be called Northland or Anglia instead of Canada.Moore, Christopher. 1997. 1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal. McClelland and Stewart: Toronto; p. 214. On these names, the statesman Thomas D'Arcy McGee commented, "Now I would ask any honourable member of the House how he would feel if he woke up some fine morning and found himself, instead of a Canadian, a Tuponian or a Hochelegander?".BOOK, John Robert Colombo, 1000 Questions About Canada: Places, People, Things, and Ideas : A Question-And-Answer Book on Canadian Facts and Culture,weblink June 1, 2001, Dundurn Press Ltd., 978-0-88882-232-1, 335, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150319070826weblink">weblink March 19, 2015,

Kingdom and Dominion

{{redirect|Dominion of Canada}}Working towards the Confederation of Canada, Canada's founders deliberated on the official title for their new country, primarily between the "Kingdom of Canada" or the "Dominion of Canada."In J. S. Ewart's two volume work, The Kingdom Papers,{{harvnb|Ewart|1912–1917|p=331}}{{harvnb|Ewart|1912–1917|p=393}} it is noted that the following names were considered for the union of British North America: "The United Colony of Canada", "the United Provinces of Canada", and "the Federated Provinces of Canada".{{harvnb|Ewart|1912–1917|pp=372–393}}; as per "Rank and Name", pp. 374–381. Ewart was also an ardent advocate for the formation of "the Republic of Canada", a position which was rarely expressed in those times.{{harvnb|Ewart|1912–1917|loc=Imperial Projects and the Republic of Canada, pp. 262–393}}.

Kingdom of Canada

{{see also|Monarchy of Canada}}During the Charlottetown Conference of 1864, John A. Macdonald, who later became the first Prime Minister of Canada, talked of "founding a great British monarchy," in connection with the British Empire. He advocated, in the fourth Canadian draft of the British North America Act (BNA Act), the name "Kingdom of Canada,"Farthing, John; Freedom Wears a Crown; Toronto, 1957 in the text is said:{{blockquote|The word 'Parliament' shall mean the Legislature or Parliament of the Kingdom of Canada.The word 'Kingdom' shall mean and comprehend the United Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.The words 'Privy Council' shall mean such persons as may from time to time be appointed, by the Governor General, and sworn to aid and advise in the Government of the Kingdom.Pope, Joseph; Confederation; pg. 177''}}Canada's founders, led by Macdonald, wished their new nation to be called the Kingdom of Canada in order to "fix the monarchical basis of the constitution."BOOK, George M. Wrong, H. H. Langton, The Chronicles of Canada: Volume VIII - The Growth of Nationality,weblink 2010-07-01, 2009, Fireship Press, 978-1-934757-51-2, 60, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140629221027weblink">weblink 2014-06-29, The governor general at the time, The 4th Viscount Monck, supported the move to designate Canada a kingdom;Hubbard, R.H.; Rideau Hall; McGill-Queen's University Press; Montreal and London; 1977; p. 9 however, officials at the Colonial Office in London opposed this potentially "premature" and "pretentious" reference for a new country. They were also wary of antagonizing the United States, which had emerged from its Civil War as a formidable military power with unsettled grievances because British interests had sold ships to the Confederacy despite a blockade, and thus opposed the use of terms such as kingdom or empire to describe the new country.BOOK, R. Douglas Francis, Richard Jones, Donald B. Smith, Journeys: A History of Canada,weblink 2009, Cengage Learning, 978-0-17-644244-6, 246, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150319054856weblink">weblink 2015-03-19,

{{anchor |Adoption of Dominion}}Adoption of Dominion

File:The-queens-dominions.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.15|Map of the British Empire under Queen Victoria at the end of the nineteenth century. "Dominions" refers to all territories belonging to the Crownthe CrownSir Samuel Leonard Tilley, Premier of New Brunswick, suggested the term Dominion,"Dominion (noun)." Merriam-Webster Dictionary: "a self-governing nation of the Commonwealth of Nations other than the United Kingdom that acknowledges the British monarch as chief of state" inspired by Psalm 72:8 (from the King James Bible): "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.""Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001060545weblink |date=2007-10-01 }} Library and Archives Canada. This is also echoed in Canada's motto: A Mari Usque Ad Mare (Latin for 'from sea to sea').BOOK, Reingard M. Nischik, History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian,weblink 2008, Camden House, 978-1-57113-359-5, 113, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150319064343weblink">weblink 2015-03-19, The term Dominion had been used for centuries to refer to the lands held by a monarch,s:Peace Treaty of Utrecht|Treaty of Utrecht 1713 "Moreover, the most Christian King promises, as well in his own name, as in that of his heirs and successors, that they will at not time whatever disturb or give any molestation to the Queen of Great Britain, her heirs and successors, descended from the aforesaid Protestant line, who possess the crown of Great Britain, and the dominions belonging therunto."]] and had previously been adopted as titles for the Dominion of New England and the Dominion and Colony of Virginia. It continued to apply as a generic term for the major colonial possessions of the British Empire until well into the 20th century;"... on the 23rd of April 1895, Tongaland was declared by proclamation to be added to the dominions of Queen Victoria ... " (EB1911, Africa, 1, 343, x, ) although Tilley and the other Fathers of Confederation broadened the meaning of the word dominion to a "virtual synonym for sovereign state."WEB,weblink Through the Lens of History: Translating dominion as puissance, Government of Canada, 2013-06-24, Delisle, Jean, October 8, 2009, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131224215840weblink">weblink 2013-12-24, Its adoption as a title for Canada in 1867 served the purpose of upholding the monarchist principle in Canada; in a letter to Queen Victoria, Lord Carnarvon stated:WEB, 2009-01-09, The Prince of Wales Royal Visit 2001, Quiz (Kids),weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080616093914weblink">weblink June 16, 2008, 2010-06-11, Canadian Heritage, The North American delegates are anxious that the United Provinces should be designated as the 'Dominion of Canada.' It is a new title, but intended on their part as a tribute to the Monarchical principle which they earnestly desire to uphold.Macdonald, however, bemoaned its adoption. In a letter to Lord Knutsford on the topic of the loss of the use of the word kingdom, Macdonald said: {{blockquote|A great opportunity was lost in 1867 when the Dominion was formed out of the several provinces…The declaration of all the B.N.A. provinces that they desired as one dominion to remain a portion of the Empire, showed what wise government and generous treatment would do, and should have been marked as an epoch in the history of England. This would probably have been the case had Lord Carnarvon, who, as colonial minister, had sat at the cradle of the new Dominion, remained in office. His ill-omened resignation was followed by the appointment of the late Duke of Buckingham, who had as his adviser the then Governor General, Lord Monck - both good men, certainly, but quite unable, from the constitution of their minds, to rise to the occasion. Had a different course been pursued, for instance, had united Canada been declared to be an auxiliary kingdom, as it was in the Canadian draft of the bill, I feel sure almost that the Australian colonies would, ere this, have been applying to be placed in the same rank as The Kingdom of Canada.BOOK, Arthur Bousfield, Garry Toffoli, Royal Observations: Canadians & Royalty,weblink registration, 1991, Dundurn Press Ltd., 978-1-55002-076-2, 152, BOOK, Joseph Pope, Memoirs of the Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald, G. C. B., first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada,weblink 1894, E. Arnold, 321, }}He added as a postscript that it was adopted on the suggestion of British colonial ministers to avoid offending republican sensibilities in the United States:{{blockquote|P.S. On reading the above over I see that it will convey the impression that the change of title from Kingdom to Dominion was caused by the Duke of Buckingham. This is not so. It was made at the instance of Lord Derby, then foreign minister, who feared the first name would wound the sensibilities of the Yankees. I mentioned this incident in our history to Lord Beaconsfield at Hughenden in 1879, who said, 'I was not aware of the circumstance, but it is so like Derby, a very good fellow, but who lives in a region of perpetual funk.'WEB,weblink Senator Cools congratulates Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her Forty-Seventh Anniversary of Accession to Throne, Feb 11, 1999, Senatorcools.sencanada.ca, 2011-10-26, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120425092307weblink">weblink 2012-04-25, }}Use of the term dominion was formalized in 1867 through Canadian Confederation. In the Constitution of Canada, namely the Constitution Act, 1867 (British North America Acts), the preamble of the act indicates:{{blockquote|Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom....BOOK, Dennis Ambrose O'Sullivan, Government in Canada: The principles and institutions of our federal and provincial constitutions. The B. N. A. act, 1867, compared with the United States Constitution, with a sketch of the constitutional history of Canada,weblink 1887, Carswell & co., 309, }}Moreover, section 2 indicates that the provinces:{{blockquote|... shall form and be One Dominion under the Name of Canada; and on and after that Day those Three Provinces shall form and be One Dominion under that Name accordingly.}}

French terms

The French translation of the 1867 British North America Act) translated "One Dominion under the Name of Canada" as "" using Puissance ('power') as a translation for dominion. Later, the English loanword dominion was also used in French.Le Petit Robert 1: dictionnaire de la langue française, 1990.The Fathers of Confederation met at the Quebec Conference of 1864 to discuss the terms of this new union. One issue on the agenda was to determine the Union's "feudal rank" (see Resolution 71 of the Quebec Conference, 1864). The candidates for the classification of this new union were: ('the Kingdom or Realm of Canada'), ('the Union of Canada'), and ('the Dominion of Canada').

Use of Dominion

There are numerous references in United Kingdom Acts of Parliament to "the Dominion of Canada;" and the British North America Act, 1867 referred to the formation of "one Dominion under the name of Canada."Commonwealth and Colonial Law by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 17 (direct quote, word for word) Section 4 of the BNA Act also declares that: "Unless it is otherwise expressed or implied, the Name Canada shall be taken to mean Canada as constituted under this Act;" this has been interpreted to mean that the title of the country is simply Canada. The term "Dominion of Canada" appears in the Constitution Act, 1871—the usage of which was "sanctioned"Martin, Robert. 1993. Eugene Forsey Memorial Lecture: A Lament for British North America. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051017043704weblink |date=2005-10-17 }} The Machray Review. Prayer Book Society of Canada.—A summative piece about nomenclature and pertinent history with abundant references.—and both "Canada" and "Dominion of Canada" appear in other texts of the period, as well as on numerous Canadian banknotes before 1935.File:Jubilee celebrations on Parliament Hill.jpg|thumb|right|Crowds on Parliament Hill celebrate Dominion DayDominion DayUntil the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was commonly used to identify the country. As the country acquired political authority and autonomy from the United Kingdom, the federal government began using simply Canada on state documents. Quebec nationalist leaders also objected to dominion, arguing that it suggested Ottawa would have control over Quebec.Under Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent, compromises were reached that quietly, and without legislation, "Dominion" would be retired in official names and statements, usually replaced by "federal". The St. Laurent government thereby ended the practice of using "Dominion" in the Statutes of Canada in 1951.WEB, November 8, 1951 (21st Parliament, 5th Session),weblink April 9, 2019, The independence of the separate Commonwealth realms was emphasised after the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, when she was proclaimed not just as Queen of the United Kingdom, but also Queen of Canada, Queen of Australia, Queen of New Zealand, Queen of South Africa, and of all her other "realms and territories". This also reflected the change from dominion to realm; in the proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II's new titles in 1953, the phrase "of her other Realms and Territories" replaced "dominion" with another mediaeval French word with the same connotation, "realm" (from royaume).BOOK,weblink The Statecraft of British Imperialism: Essays in Honour of Wm. Roger Louis, Robert D., King, Robin W., Kilson, September 7, 1999, Taylor & Francis, 9780714643786, Google Books, With that said, the national holiday of "Dominion Day" kept that name until 1982, when a private member's bill to replace the name with Canada Day that had received first reading in May 1980 was unexpectedly passed in the House. In the Senate, Eugene Forsey and the Monarchist League of Canada strongly defended the traditional usage. When a Gallup poll showed 70% of all Canadians favoured the change, the Senate approved the bill without a recorded vote.Alan Rayburn, Naming Canada: Stories about Canadian Place Names (2001) pp 17–22.The Canada Act 1982 refers only to Canada and does not use the term dominion. No constitutional statute amends this name, nor does any Canadian legal document state that the name of the country is anything other than Canada.WEB, 2009-03-18, Government of Canada Translation Bureau, "List of Country Names"—Introduction notes that "The official name of a state (e.g. Islamic Republic of Iran), found under the common name (Iran), is taken from the United Nations Terminology Bulletin No. 347.",weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100117160127weblink">weblink 2010-01-17, 2010-06-11, Btb.gc.ca, Moreover, official sources of the United Nations system,WEB,weblink United Nations Multilingual Terminology Database (UNTERM.UN.ORG), Canada page, The UN Terminology website "which holds records for each country containing the short and formal names in the six UN official languages, is the successor to UN Terminology, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140508121300weblink">weblink 2014-05-08, WEB, Bulletin No. 347/Rev. 1,weblink UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES, Working Paper No. 16, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080227200629weblink">weblink 2008-02-27, international organizations (such as the Organization of American States),WEB, Organization of American States Office of Legal Cooperation, Member Country Information Page for Canada,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100627035849weblink">weblink 2010-06-27, 2010-06-11, Oas.org, the European Union,WEB,weblink European Union Gateway Interinstutional Style Guide, List of Countries, territories and currencies - "Note 1, 'Full name' corresponds in most cases to the official name recognized by the United Nations.", Publications.europa.eu, 2010-06-11, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130805170859weblink">weblink 2013-08-05, the United States,WEB,weblink United States Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Independent States of the World—Canada: "no long-form name", State.gov, 1979-01-01, 2010-06-11, and other polities with which Canada has official relations as a state either consistently use Canada as the only official name, affirm that Canada has no long-form name, or affirm that the formal name is simply Canada.The terms Dominion and Dominion of Canada are still considered to be appropriate, although arcane, titles for the country.Forsey, Eugene A., in Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Dominion{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122212114weblink |date=2017-01-22 }}" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Hurtig Publishers: Toronto.{{sfn|Rayburn|2001|pages=19,21}}Canadian Heritage: National Flag of Canada Day - How Did You Do? {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611172413weblink |date=2011-06-11 }}, Canada's Digital Collections: Confederation 1867, weblink" title="archive.today/20071212021924weblink">Canadian Heritage: The Prince of Wales Royal Visit 2001, Quiz. The federal government continues to produce publications and educational materials that specify the currency of these titles, although these publications are not themselves legal or official documents.Canadian Heritage: National Flag of Canada Day - How Did You Do? {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611172413weblink |date=2011-06-11 }}, Canada's Digital Collections: Confederation 1867, weblink" title="archive.today/20071212021924weblink">Canadian Heritage: The Prince of Wales Royal Visit 2001, QuizForsey, Eugene A. 2005. How Canadians Govern Themselves {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325074418weblink |date=2009-03-25 }} (PDF), 6th ed. Canada: Ottawa; pp. 8-9. The preface to the publication specifies that the opinions reflected are those of the author, and "do not necessarily reflect those of parliament."WEB, Territorial evolution, Atlas of Canada, Natural Resources Canada,weblink 2007-10-09, In 1867, the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are united in a federal state, the Dominion of Canada., dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100413084359weblink">weblink 2010-04-13, For instance, in 2008 the Canadian government registered the Maple Leaf Tartan, designed in 1964, with the Scottish Tartans Authority. The tartan's alternate name is "Dominion of Canada."WEB,weblink Tartan Display, Scottish Tartan Authority, April 10, 2019, WEB, BRIAN LILLEY, Parliamentary Bureau,weblink It's official, Maple Leaf Tartan is Canada's tartan | Canada | News, Toronto Sun, 2011-03-09, 2011-10-26, The term Dominion and Dominion of Canada is also used in a colonial historical sense, having been used to distinguish contemporary (post-1867) Canada from either the earlier Province of Canada or from the even earlier The Canadas and modern history of the current realms.WEB,weblink Dominion of Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, The terms have also been used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though in this usage, "federal" has replaced "dominion". For example, The Canadian Almanac stopped using Dominion of Canada in 1964.

See also

• List of Canadian place names of royal heritage
• Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies
• Origins of names of cities in Canada
• List of Canadian place names of Ukrainian origin
• List of Canadian place names of Indigenous origin
• List of Canadian place names of English origin
• List of Canadian place names of Scottish origin
• List of Canadian place names of Spanish origin

Notes

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References

{{Reflist|30em}}

Bibliography

• ENCYCLOPEDIA,weblink Ewart, J.S., 1912–1917, The Kingdom Papers, I, McClelland, Goodchild, and Stewart, Toronto, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060215143821weblink">weblink 2006-02-15,
• BOOK, R. Douglas, Francis, Richard, Jones, Donald B., Smith, Journeys: A History of Canada, Nelson College, 2009, 978-0176442446,
• BOOK, Bruce Elliott, Johansen, The Encyclopedia of Native American Economic History, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, 978-0313306235,
• BOOK, James H., Marsh, The Canadian Encyclopedia,weblink 1999, The Canadian Encyclopedia, 978-0-7710-2099-5, live,weblink 2017-03-25,
• BOOK, Marianne, Mithun, 1999, The Languages of Native North America, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 0-521-29875-X,
• {{citation|last=Orkin |first=Mark M |year=2010 |title=The Name Canada: An Etymological Enigma |encyclopedia=Canadian English: A Linguistic Reader |url=http://www.queensu.ca/strathy/apps/OP6v2.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924121232weblink |publisher=Strathy Language Unit, Queen's University |location=Kingston, Ontario}}
• BOOK, Alan, Rayburn, Naming Canada: Stories about Canadian Place Names,weblink 2001, University of Toronto Press, 978-0-8020-8293-0, 14–17, live,weblink 2016-04-12,
• BOOK, Germaine, Warkentin, Carolyn, Podruchny, Decentring the Renaissance: Canada and Europe in Multidisciplinary Perspective, 1500-1700,weblink 2001, University of Toronto Press, 978-0-8020-8149-0, live,weblink 2016-06-10,

Further reading

• Choudry, Sujit. 2001(?). "Constitution Acts" (based on looseleaf by Hogg, Peter W.). Constitutional Keywords. University of Alberta, Centre for Constitutional Studies: Edmonton.
• BOOK, The Oxford Companion to Canadian History, Oxford University Press Canada, 2004, 978-0-19-541559-9, Gerald Hallowell, registration,weblink

External links

• Origin of the Name - Canada - Canadian Heritage

{{Canada topics}}{{North America topic|Name of}}