| Feature Type: | Lake - Inland body of standing water. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | S of Burns Lake (municipality), Range 4 Coast Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 54°02'29"N, 125°46'00"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 93K/4 |
| Related Maps: |
93E/16 93F/13 93F/14 93F/15 93K/3 93K/4 93L/1 |
|
|
Origin Notes and History:
|
Decision on Smithers East half, File 93L. Previously adopted in 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924. Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa |
|
Father Morice labelled this "French Lake" on his map Northern Interior of British Columbia, 1907. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
|
According to Father Morice, the Indians called this Nita-poen (meaning Lip Lake), because of its shape. Due to confusion with the Indian word "neto" meaning "white man" and given that most "white men" at the time were French-Canadian voyageurs, the Indian name was incorrectly translated as Lac des Francais. Subsequently changed to François Lake, likely through cartographic error. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |