WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Ontario’s Geographic Names Board’s mandate is to approve any new names for unnamed bodies of water within the province. Should you wish to name an unnamed lake all applications are free. Many lakes are named after people. As am aside I recall actor Jim Carey wanted to change the name of a local lake but council disapproved. But that doesn’t fall within the jurisdiction of the Ontario Board.
“The name could cause confusion for emergency service delivery, especially on a lake with numerous islands,” said Jennifer McMurray, Geographic Names Specialist, MNRF, who does not sit on the board.
As can be expected the criteria for an application that recommends a new name are considerable. No bad words, no ads, a person’s name is only considered if that person has been dead for at least five years and then said person must have left some sort of legacy and so on.
Priority goes to geographic names that have been used colloquially for at least 20 years so one might ask why Little Devil (Mephisto), Big Salmon (Limerick), Bass Lake (Steenburg), or Eagle (Wollaston) for example, had their names changed?
Once the board decides on a name it then approaches the local community for feedback.
Some approved names since 2015 have included Doehead Lake, Hydro Lake, South Blue Sky Lake, and Waterwitch Lake.
While working on the popular local publication “BANCROFT AREA STOCKED LAKES GUIDEBOOK”, compiled by the Bancroft Fish & Wildlife Advisory Committee in conjunction with the Bancroft District MNRF, we came upon Oneside Lake and Otherside lake both located in Murchison Township. Goto pages 98 and 99 to see for yourself. How did those names come to be?
I checked with the MNRF and was told that “staff researched Ontario’s scanned historical geographic names records and were unable to find any origin information for Oneside Lake or Otherside Lake in Murchison Township. They were made official in 1959 and around that time large numbers of names were approved at once without much documentation about the name origins.”
NAME CHANGES
Since the birth of our nation the present MNRF has undergone some name changes.
Following are the MNRF timelines as of January 2021, for the trivia buff:
Commissioner of Crown Lands – 1867 -1905
Minister of Lands and Mines – 1905 – 1906
Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines – 1906 – 1919
Minister of Lands & Forests – 1919 – 1972
Ministry of Natural Resources – 1972 – 1995
Ministry of Natural Resources, Northern Development and Mines – 1995 – 1997
Ministry of Natural Resources – 1997 – 2014
Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry – 2014 –
MORE NAMES
Missed including this item regarding last week’s name theme. The most popular names in 2019 for girls were: Olivia, Charlotte, Emma, Ava and Sophia – in that order. For boys: Noah, Liam, Lucas, Benjamin and Ethan. No mention of 2020 yet. FYI.