What's in a name?

The idea for this post hit me when I drove by a sign indicating the name of a nearby town:

Précieux-Sang

For those of you who are linguistically challenged in the area of the French language, the translation means Precious Blood. 

I can't find much on it online, other than the fact that it is part of the city of Bécancour in Québec.

It started me thinking about the names of places in the province.  I already knew that a number of them had a religious bend to them.

Notre Dame de Bon Secour - our lady (Mary) of good help

Notre Dame du Bon Conseil - our lady of good advice or counsel

Sainte Croix - holy cross

Magog - a biblical city that - along with Gog - represents evil.  Two interesting things here: 1) There`s a lake in this city where sightings of a Loch Ness-type monster have been reported. (the lake is called Memphrémagog, and the monster is called Memphré).  Despite its erie name, it really is a beautiful city. 2) As far as I can tell, there is no Gog in Quebec.

St. Basil le Grand - Saint Basil the Great

St. Albert

Ste. Hyacinthe

Epiphanie - Epiphany

And there really are more than I can name.  This is a clear reflection or indication of the fact that Québec has a rich religious - specifically Roman-Catholic - heritage.  Unfortunately, much of that has been lost since the 1960s.  But that topic is worthy of another posting.  Some other time, maybe.

But then there are other cities.

Victoriaville - named, of course, for Queen Victoria

Laurierville - named for Wilfred Laurier, the 7th prime minister of Canada. Ironically, he was born in an area called St. Lin, which is near Montreal.  At any rate, Laurier a little blip on the map that no one's ever heard of. There are no stoplights, there's only one general store and a restaurant, and one of the signs leading into the town mistakenly calls it LAURIEVILLE. Laurierville is my mother's hometown.

Warwick - where my Dad is from, and the birthplace of poutine.

Lyster - near Laurierville. My grandmother currently lives there in a senior citizen`s home

Inverness - again, near Laurierville.  I've never been, but I think the name is cool.  Not to mention, the pronunciation of this name by Francos who barely speak English is very anglicized.

Kinnear's Mills - at one (tiny) intersection in this town, there is a church on each corner. And each one of a different denomination.  Hmmm...

Yep.  You can find all of those names - among others in Québec.  And these are a clear indication of 1) the impact that the English (and apparently the Irish) have had - and continue to have - in various parts of the province, despite the fact that, today, it is a unilingual - not to mention, un-English - province, and 2) the province's desire to honour various important people.

I think I should probably mention that all of the cities above are French-speaking today.

Oh, and let's not forget about the etymology of the name of the province:  Québec is actually an Algonquin word, meaning 'where the river gets narrower.'  Appropriate, considering that Québec is home to 11 aboriginal nations...

So what's in a name? History. 

As Sheldon Cooper would say, 'Fascinating.'