| Language of origin | Salishan language family Halqʼeméylem language |
| Feature Type: | City - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a city municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | W of Pitt River on N side of Fraser River, New Westminster Land District |
| Tags: | Indigenous |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°17'02"N, 122°47'37"W at the approximate location of the Municipal Hall. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92G/7 |
| Related Maps: |
92G/2 92G/7 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Coquitlam incorporated as a District Municipality under Letters Patent 25 July 1891, R.B. Kelly, reeve; re-incorporated as a City Municipality by Order in Council 997/92, 18 June 1992, effective 1 December 1992. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Coquitlam Post Office was opened 1 March 1881; renamed Port Coquitlam Post Office 1 July 1913. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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"The name Coquitlam is of [Indigenous] origin and signifies a "small red salmon," a fish which once teamed in the Coquitlam river, but now through various causes has become extinct." (Coquitlam Star, May 1912.) See the municpality's website for more information. Source: included with note |
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The name Coquitlam is of [Indigenous] origin and signifies a "small red salmon". Source: Nelson, Denys; Place Names of the Delta of the Fraser River; 1927, unpublished manuscript held in the Provincial Archives |
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The name Coquitlam is that of a Salish tribe in the [area] speaking the Cowichan dialect. (17th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1922.) Also spelled Kwikwitlem. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |