In this section, you will find:

A table of families of Canadian generic terms, so that you can track down groups of terms that are similar in nature (for example, you will see that reef, islet, brandies and sunker all may be used in a similar way to the generic "rock"!)

Most geographical names contain two elements:

1. a specific identifies the feature ... for example, "Fraser" in Fraser River, "Torngat" in Torngat Mountains, "Winisk" in Winisk River, or "Chic-Chocs" in Monts Chic-Chocs. The specific could be in one of a great variety of languages found in Canada. It could be a descriptive word (e.g. a colour, a shape), a family name (e.g. a pioneer family, an explorer), an aspect of the landscape (e.g. a tree species, an animal) ... just to give you a few examples.
2. a generic indicates the type of feature ... for example, "glacier" in Kaskawulsh Glacier, "lake" in Lake Ontario, "cap" in Cap Tourmente, or "reservoir" in Smallwood Reservoir. Generic terms tell us about the feature. Some generics are familiar to many of us (river, hill, bay, montagne, lac, etc.), whereas others are particular to regional use (for example, brandies, butte, hole, run, bosquet, crique, pingo). Some generic terms may have more than one meaning! You might have to look at a map to know whether a "bluff" is a cliff or a clump of trees, or whether a "creek" is a stream or a bay.

Source:

Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (1987): Glossary of Generic Terms in Canada's Geographical Names / Glossaire des génériques en usage dans les noms géographiques du Canada. Ottawa: Secretary of State, Terminology Bulletin 176.

Note:

The examples provided for the different generic terms can be found on National Topographic System (NTS) maps, usually at a scale of 1:50 000. The appropriate sheet number is included after the named examples (e.g. 30 M/11). For a few larger features we may provide a 1:250 000 scale map that would show a wider area (e.g. 104 J). You will see that the latitude and longitude of each named example are also included.