Similkameen

Syllable breakdown

Name meaning and origin

Origin

Okanagan/Syilx (Canada)

Meaning

a name derived from the Syilx name for the Similkameen River — smilkameen — meaning river of the eagle people or possibly sharp knives or the word for a type of eagle, a river valley that forms the western arm of the Syilx traditional territory running from Princeton, British Columbia, through the Cascade Mountains to join the Okanagan River system; the Similkameen Valley has been a travel route, fishing ground, and trading corridor for Indigenous peoples of the interior plateau for thousands of years; to bear the name of a river is to carry the story of a waterway that has sustained life, marked boundaries, facilitated exchange, and provided identity to the communities along its banks; in Syilx understanding rivers are not merely geographical features but living relationships between land, water, and the peoples who depend upon them

Gender

unisex