Which Indigenous people gave Lake Erie its name?

The Erie people gave Lake Erie its name through the historical names recorded by European explorers.

The Erie were an Indigenous people who lived south and east of the lake, particularly in what is now northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York. French sources recorded forms such as Lac Érié, and the name eventually became the English “Lake Erie.”

The Erie language and political history are less extensively documented than those of some neighboring peoples. The Erie were defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy during the seventeenth century, after which they ceased to exist as a distinct political entity in the historical record.

Lake names can reflect several layers of history: Indigenous languages, French spellings, English usage, and later mapmaking. This is why the modern form may differ substantially from the original pronunciation or spelling.