Slesse Creek adopted 6 October 1936 on Geological Survey sheet 422A, Hope, as labelled on Trutch's 1871 map of British Columbia, and on Dominion Sectional sheet #11, Yale, 1913, and on BC Lands' map 2B, 1914. Confirmed 2 June 1950 on 92 H/4. Name changed by Geographic Board to Silesia Creek 5 April 1951 on 92H/4, to conform to spelling in Washington State. Name changed back to "Slesse Creek (not Silesia Creek)" 5 July 1951 on 92 H/4, as recommended by BC Geographic Division (file C.1.50 pt.1)

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

Earliest known record: "Selacee Creek" per International Boundary Survey Reports, 1860. Spelled "Slesse" on Royal Engineer's 1862 map British Columbia: Hope to Similkameen & Rock, etc. Labelled "Slesse Creek" on Trutch's 1871 map of BC. Labelled "Slesse River" on G.M. Dawson's 1877 map of the Southern Interior of British Columbia. "Slesse Creek" and "Slesse Mountain" labelled on Geology of the 49th Parallel, sheet 16, to accompany GSC Memoir 38, 1912. Labelled "Slesse (Selacce) Creek" on International Boundary sheet 4, 1913. See Slesse Mountain.

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

"Silesia Creek (not Selacee, Sen-eh-say, Silecia, Silicia nor Slesse)" adopted by the United States Geographic Names Board (date not cited)

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

A borrowing from the traditional name for the nearby mountain, meaning "fang" - descriptive of the mountain's appearance.

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