Nimpkish
/ˈnɪmp.kɪʃ/noun
A name used for a river, lake, former Indigenous community, and associated place-names on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Did you know?Nimpkish is associated with the Namgis, a Kwakwaka’wakw people; English spellings such as Nimpkish and Nimkish reflect attempts to represent Indigenous sounds through colonial orthography.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact
Kwak’wala
N̓amǥis
“Indigenous name associated with the Namgis people; the precise historical relationship to the later spelling Nimpkish is not fully transparent.”
19th Century
English records
Nimpkish / Nimkish
“Colonial spellings used for the Indigenous people and their territory on northern Vancouver Island.”
Late 19th Century
English
Nimpkish River
“Name applied by English-language maps and records to the river flowing into Johnstone Strait.”
20th Century
English
Nimpkish Lake
“Established geographic name for the large lake on northern Vancouver Island.”
Modern English
English
Nimpkish
“A historical and geographic name, also preserved in names such as Nimpkish River, Nimpkish Lake, and Nimpkish First Nation.”
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