How Edmonton Got Its Name: A Story of Fur, Fortune, and an English Hometown

The story of how Edmonton got its name is a journey back in time, across an ocean, and deep into the heart of the North American fur trade.

 

It’s a tale that begins not on the banks of our beloved North Saskatchewan River, but in a borough of London, England.

 

The name was officially given in 1795, not to a city, but to a rugged trading post: Fort Edmonton.

 

This crucial outpost belonged to the legendary Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), the powerful enterprise that shaped much of early Canadian history.

 

The decision was rooted in deference and connection.

 

The fort was named after Edmonton, Middlesex, England, the birthplace of a man named Sir James Winter Lake.

 

At the time the fort was established, Lake was a high-ranking official  Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.

 

His influence was such that his English hometown's name was chosen for this vital new post on the vast Canadian prairie.

 

It was a common practice, a way of stamping a piece of the familiar onto a wild, unknown landscape.

 

The fort itself was a mobile entity in its early years, moving several times to find the most strategic location for trade before settling on the grounds near today's Alberta Legislature Building in 1830.

 

That final location became the nucleus around which our modern city grew, forever cementing the name given by those early fur traders.

 

But the name 'Edmonton' only tells one part of the story.

 

Long before European traders arrived, this land had names, given by the Indigenous peoples who had called it home for millennia.

 

The Cree name for the area is Amiskwaciy Waskahikan, which translates to "Beaver Hills House."

 

This name reflected the fort's proximity to the Beaver Hills and the central role of the beaver in the very trade that brought the English name here.

 

Other nations had their own names for the bustling trading hub.

 

The Nakota Sioux called it Ti Oda, or "Many Houses," while the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) knew it as Omahkoyis, meaning "Big Lodge."

 

These Indigenous names speak to a rich, layered history that predates the colonial chapter and is increasingly being brought to the forefront of our city's identity.

 

This conversation about names and their meanings is not just a historical footnote; it's a living, breathing part of Edmonton today.

 

In recent years, Edmonton has been at the center of a powerful movement of reconciliation and renaming.

 

It's a city grappling with its past to build a more inclusive future.

 

We’ve seen the CFL team controversially drop its former name, becoming the Edmonton Elks, a move celebrated by Indigenous leaders as a step toward reconciliation.

 

More significantly, the City of Edmonton replaced its numbered ward system with Indigenous names gifted by a committee of matriarchs, iyiniw iskwewak wihtwawin.

 

Names like O-day’min (the Anishinaabe word for strawberry, representing the heart of the city) and Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi (a Blackfoot name describing traditional bison travel routes) now define our civic landscape.

 

These changes reflect a deeper understanding that names carry weight, power, and history.

 

The conversation continues in neighborhoods across the city, from the discussions about renaming the Oliver district, named for controversial historical figure Frank Oliver, to re-evaluating landmarks tied to figures like Bishop Grandin.

 

As new communities blossom in areas like Keswick, Windermere, and Rosenthal, the very act of naming streets, parks, and neighborhoods is being approached with a new consciousness.

 

Developers and city planners are increasingly looking to reflect the deep and diverse heritage of our region, moving beyond colonial echoes.

 

So, while the name Edmonton connects us to an English town and a powerful fur trading company, it also serves as the starting point for a much larger story.

 

It's a story of encounter, of commerce, and now, of a city actively choosing how it wants to be known.

 

It is a testament to how a place can honor its entire history, not just one part of it.

 

The name that crossed an ocean over 200 years ago is now firmly rooted here, intertwined with the ancient names that rose from this very soil.

 

 

Our reader's top 3 questions about how Edmonton Got Its Name

 

Who was Edmonton named after?

Edmonton was not named after a person directly, but after a place: Edmonton, England (now part of London). This was the hometown of Sir James Winter Lake, the Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1795 when Fort Edmonton was established.

 

What was Edmonton called before it was Edmonton?

Before the arrival of Europeans, the area had several Indigenous names. The most widely recognized is the Cree name Amiskwaciy Waskahikan, meaning "Beaver Hills House." It was also known as Ti Oda ("Many Houses") by the Nakota Sioux and Omahkoyis ("Big Lodge") by the Blackfoot.

 

Why is the history of Edmonton's name important today?

The origin of the name is part of a larger, ongoing conversation in Edmonton about history, colonialism, and reconciliation. Recent initiatives, such as adopting Indigenous names for city wards and renaming sports teams and public spaces, show the city is actively working to acknowledge and honor its full, complex history.