| Feature Type: | Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | E. side of Texada Island, Texada Island Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°45'29"N, 124°33'04"W at the approximate population centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92F/15 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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"Vananda (post office & settlement), not Van Anda" was adopted 6 March 1913; changed to Vananda (Community) 15 March 1983 on 92F/15. Form of the name changed to Van Anda (Community) 11 September 1992 on 92F/15, to respect entrenched local usage. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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"Van Anda (cove) and Van Anda appears on British Admiralty Chart & Pilot and is used locally. Recommend Vananda in keeping with name of Post Office." (6 March 1913 notation on name card in Ottawa; chart title and date not cited). Vananda Post Office opened 1 June 1897; an early photograph of the post office spells the name in upper-case letters, with no spaces. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Named after the Van Anda Copper & Gold Mining Company, which company owned 840 acres on the northeast side of the island, including the "Copper Queen" claim here; president Edward Blewitt, Seattle capitalist and miner who named both his son and his mining company after his friend Carl Van Anda, a well-known New York City journalist in the 1870's. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |