Name of Toronto

John Graves Simcoe identified the area as a strategic location to base a new capital for Upper Canada, believing Newark to be susceptible to American invasion.

This narrows was called tkaronto by the Mohawk, meaning "where there are trees standing in the water,"[2] and was recorded as early as 1615 by Samuel de Champlain.

[5] Today, the area is partially surrounded by trees along the water's edge with the rest with marinas and location of the historic Mnjikaning Fish Weirs.

[9] In 1680, it appeared as Lac de Taronto on a map created by French court official Abbé Claude Bernou.

[2] The change of spelling from Taronto to Toronto is thought to originate on a 1695 map by Italian cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli.

He opposed the renaming scheme, stating:[10] It is to be lamented that the Indian names, so grand and sonorous, should ever have been changed for others.

[9] In 1804, settler Angus MacDonald petitioned the Upper Canada Legislature to restore the name Toronto, but this was rejected.

By this time, it was already the largest city in Upper Canada, growing greatly in the late 1820s and early 1830s following the slow growth from its founding in the 1790s.

The Council was petitioned to rename the city Toronto during its incorporation, and on March 1, 1834, debated the issue.

In Debate on Name Toronto in Incorporation Act, March 1, 1834, records indicate various council members noting their support for or opposition to the measure.

Toronto was also considered more pleasing, as the speaker noted during the debate, "He hoped Honourable Members had the same taste for musical sounds as he had".

While the meaning of the term was initially unclear,[20] Drake clarified in a 2016 interview by Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that it derived from the shared digits of the 416 and 647 telephone area codes and the six municipalities that were amalgamated into the current City of Toronto in 1998.

[21][22] It has since influenced numerous works within the Canadian Hip Hop community, including the formation of 6ixBuzz and the release of the documentary 6IX RISING.

[23] The adoption of the nickname by some media outlets has been named as a contributing factor for its entry into the public's consciousness.

An early map depicting Teiaiagon and Lac Taronto , which would be renamed Lake Simcoe . The Toronto Carrying-Place Trail is shown, simply marked as Portage , and Lake Ontario was then known as Lac de Frontenac .
Signage for Fort York in Toronto. York is a historic name of the city used from 1793 to 1834.
Depiction of York, Upper Canada in 1803. During this period the settlement was referred to as Little York , in comparison to York in England and New York City in the US
A hog pen at the William Davies Company facilities in Toronto, c. 1920s. The city may have earned the Hogtown moniker due to the amount of pork processed in the city in the early 20th century.
The seal of the former Metropolitan Toronto , containing six loops representing the six municipalities that formed it; a partial inspiration for the moniker The 6ix