Nooksack River
/ˈnʊk.sæk ˈrɪv.ər/noun
A river in northwestern Washington State that flows through the Nooksack Valley into Bellingham Bay.
Did you know?The river takes its name from the Nooksack people, whose ancestral territory includes the river valley; the spelling is an English rendering of an Indigenous name, not a transparent English phrase.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact
Nooksack
Nuxwsa’7aq
“An Indigenous name associated with the Nooksack people and their homeland; its precise original meaning is uncertain.”
18th–19th Century
Nooksack
Nooksack
“The name used by the Nooksack people for themselves and their region in forms later represented through English spelling.”
19th Century
English
Nooksack River
“English geographic name for the river flowing through the Nooksack homeland.”
1850s
English
Nooksack River
“The name appears on maps and in descriptions of the northwestern Washington landscape during the period of U.S. exploration and settlement.”
Modern English
English
Nooksack River
“The officially recognized river name in Whatcom County, Washington.”
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