Decision in 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, as labelled on BC map 1H, 1917, not "Tacla Lake" as spelled on Trutch's 1871 map of British Columbia.

Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.

A Carrier name meaning "bottom of the lake" referring to the position of the old Bulkley House trading post. The exploring party for the route of the Collins Overland Telegraph spent the winter of 1865 at Bulkley House, at the northern end of Tacla [sic] Lake.

Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.

"tacla" is the Dene word for lake (Fr. A.G. Morice, OMI, British Columbia Maps and Place Names, Ashcroft Journal, 2 September 1905)

Source: included with note

This name is said to be a poor approximation of the Carrier name for an early trading post near the northern end of the lake. This name means "at the end of the lake", similar to the French-Canadian "fond-du-lac".

Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997