The most common alternative theory suggested that the name originated when Portuguese or Spanish explorers, having explored the northern part of the continent and unable to find gold and silver, wrote cá nada (‘nothing here’ in Portuguese), acá nada, aqui nada or el cabo de nada (‘Cape Nothing’ in Spanish) on that part of their maps.

I always thought it was Spanish for “place with moose”

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
    6·
    27 days ago

    Growing up, we had a joke among friends:

    When deciding the name of their new nation, the early immigrants formed a convention. After a few rounds of terrible names, the proctor spoke up:

    “I have an idea. How about we pick letters randomly from a hat and go from there?”

    After a round of ayes, the proctor wrote down the alphabet on some paper, cut it up, and put it into a hat. An assistant pulled a letter out, and the proctor said “C, eh?”, the assistant nodded, and the scribe wrote it down on a big chalk board behind them so everyone could see. And then the next letter, “N, eh?”, and then “D, eh?”.

    The proctor then said, “Alright, that should get us started, what do we have.” He turned around and saw, “C A N A D A” and decided to put it to a vote, and the rest is history.