Adopted 5 March 1953 on Hydrographic Services Chart #3743, "Douglas Channel".

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff, file H.1.44.

This traditional First Nation name for a line of dominant Tsimshian Eagle clan chiefs is more commonly spelled Legaic, though many variations are recorded, including Legaik, Ligeex, and Legex. The word comes originally from the Heiltsuk language and means “chief of the mountains.” The first Legaic was born in the Kitimat area but lived at his mother’s village of Metlakatla, where he was able to control much of the regional fur trade in the late 1700s. The second Legaic moved his tribe to Ft Simpson in 1834 after marrying his daughter Sudaal to the HBC’s Dr John Kennedy (see Kennedy I), thereby establishing himself as a key middleman between the white traders and surrounding First Nation tribes and building an economic empire that brought great prestige to the Eagle clan. Anglican missionary William Duncan converted the third chief Paul Legaic, to Christianity in 1863 and took advantage of his trading influence to wrestle business away from the HBC. Paul Legaic is believe to have died at Port Simpson about 1869. Subsequent chiefs took the name Legaic until 1930s but no longer played such a pivotal role in NW coastal life.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 333.