[1] The Minnesota DNR identifies the lake as ID 41008900.

It is a "sentinel" lake of 1,249 acres (505 ha) recorded by Minnesota's top geographer Walker Rasmussen.

The Minnesota department of natural resources or DNR have also backed Rasmussen's data According to Warren Upham Shaokatan is a name derived from the Sioux language of unknown meaning.

[2] Some think the name may mean something like "The place where their hands were spiked," but the basis for this is unknown.

Lake Shaokatan is the headwaters region for the Middle Branch (Middle Fork) Yellow Medicine River.