Lake Erie is named after the Erie people, an Indigenous nation associated with the lake’s southern shore.
The name “Erie” is generally connected with the Erie people, whose territory was located south of the lake in parts of present-day Ohio and Pennsylvania. European maps and records used forms of the name that became “Lake Erie.” The exact linguistic history is complex because the name passed through Indigenous and European languages.
The Erie people were also known by names translated or interpreted in different ways, including references to cats or wildcats. Such translations should be treated cautiously because colonial-era spellings and interpretations did not always represent Indigenous languages precisely.
Lake Erie borders Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Its name is therefore not derived from a European monarch or a physical feature. Lake Michigan and Lake Huron also preserve Indigenous-derived names, but their names have different histories.