Metlakatla (village) adopted 11 May 1905. "Metlakatla (not Metlah Catlah, Metla-Catlah, Metla-kathla, Methlakahtla, Metla Catla, nor Metla-Katla)" identified in the 6th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1906. Confirmed 3 July 1946 on C.3702. Form of name changed to Metlakatla (settlement) 3 April 1952 on 103 J, and 8 July 1954 on 103 J/8. Subsequently changed to Metlakatla (community).

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

"Metlah-Catlah Bay" and "Metlah-catlah Mission" first labelled on British Admiralty Chart 364, published in 1865 from surveys by Captain Richards, RN, in 1862. Still so-spelled on 1872 and 1878 Admiralty Charts. Spelling adjusted to "Metlakatla" sometime before Metlakatla Post Office was opened 8 October 1889; closed temporarily 1 June 1942; re-opened 5 September 1942; closed 6 October 1951. At the time of the final closing, the post office had been location at the south side of IR2. (original or earlier location(s) not cited).

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

"An adaption of the Tsimshian word "Metla-kah-thla" the name of the harbour and surrounding shores. This word is understood to mean "a passage between two bodies of salt water"; metla (between) and kah-thla (salt) - the latter being a very old word and now seldom used, pronounced soft and long (communicated to the writer in 1906 by Mrs. Odille Morison, an old resident of Metlakatla, and now of Hazelton). The passage referred to joins together Chatham sound and Tuck inlet, on the shores of which passage were the villages of the small bands into which the tribe living there was divided."

Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)

"The principal home of the Tsimshian before they left it for Fort Simpson [later called Port Simpson, now Lax Kw'alaams] when that post was established by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1834. The [Tsimshian], under the superintendence of Mr. William Duncan, returned in 1862 to the site of their old home, and built there a number of comfortable modern dwelling houses and a large wooden church. In 1863, the schooner Carolina was purchased by Mr. Duncan on behalf of the mission, and was used to carry produce and stores between Metlakatla and Victoria. Owing to untoward circumstances beyond the control of Duncan, this flourishing settlement had to be given up and Duncan, with the majority of the [First Nations peopole], removed, in 1887, to Alaska, and founded a new mission of the same name, now called New Metlakatla, on Annette Island, which has been equally successful. The large church was destroyed by fire in 1900."

Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)