[1] La Petite Rivière has its source at the Fourteenth Mile Lake (length: 0.6 km (0.37 mi); altitude: 93 m (305 ft)) located in the western part of Anticosti Island.

This toponym is based on the fact that it is located at the 14th mile east of the center of the village of Port-Menier.

At its mouth, the current of the river flows over the sandstone to about 0.35 km (0.22 mi) at low tide.

The name of the river appears on a 1955 Consolidated Bathurst Company map; it is used since 1904 and possibly earlier.

The toponym was made official on December 5, 1968, in the "Bank of place names" of the Commission de toponymie du Québec.