Adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924, as labelled on BC maps 4A, 1912 and 1EM, 1915, and on BC-Alberta boundary sheet # 1.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Indigenous name meaning "high bench land", referring to the benches near the summit of the pass, as reported by G.M. Dawson, Geological Survey, 1886. See also Akamina Creek.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Lower Kootenay word meaning "small streams".

Source: Provincial Archives of BC "Place Names File" compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions

"... the most southerly pass through the [Canadian] Rocky Mountains, 1799m in altitude. Its name is Indian in origin, meaning "high bench land" referring to the benches near the summit of South Kootenay Pass. The name was applied to a joint astronomical station occupied in 1861 by the British-American Boundary Commission and is referred to in their report as Akimina Camp and Astronomical Station.

Source: Place Names of Alberta, Alberta Geographical Names Program and Friends of Geographical Names of Alberta Society, University of Calgary Press, 4 volumes, 1991-1996.