"Kitkatlah Inlet" adopted 7 March 1933 on Canadian Geographic Survey Map #278A and in Ottawa File OBF 1420; established on BC Land's Map 3P, 1924, and British Admiralty Chart #1923A, 1927; confirmed 14 June 1946 on 103SE. Spelling changed to "Kitkatla Inlet" adopted 31 December 1953 in the 1953 Gazetteer of Canada; confirmed May 9 1966 on 103 SE, 30 April 1982 on Map 103G/15 and on Hydrographic Services Chart #3761.

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff, file Q.1.45 and P.3.33

Kitkatla is the anglicized form of a Tsimshian term that can be translated as “people of the salt” or “those who live by the sea.” The Gitxaala (or Giktxaala) First Nation, who are believed, about 1787, to have been the first members of the Tsimshian cultural group to make contact with European visitors, were often referred to in the fur-trading era as the Sebassa, after the hereditary name of the a prominent chief. Kitkatla village, also known as Lack Klan, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities on the BC coast; its population in the early 2000s was about 450, and commercial fishing was the primary livelihood. Nearby Kitkatla Creek is named for this First Nation as well.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, pages 312-313.