[3] Their name is based on the original in the Chilcotin language, Dasiqox Biny, where "Desiqox" means "Mosquito River" and is cognate to the name of the river as in English; the Chilcotin name refers to both lakes as one lake, which was also originally the case with the English usage until official designation of the separate lakes in 1954.

The lakes are separated by the short Taseko Narrows, the name of which in Chilcotin is nanats'akash, and is an important crossing place for deer.

The Taseko Lakes were proposed to be part of a massive hydroelectric development which would have seen the flow of the Taseko River dammed and diverted westward via a tunnel to Chilko Lake, which would have been also dammed and diverted through further tunnels to Tatlayoko Lake on the Homathko River, which unlike the Taseko and Chilko Rivers drains directly to the ocean at Bute Inlet rather than via the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers.

The Taseko Lakes are now part of Tsʼilʔos Provincial Park, which also includes Chilko Lake and the intervening country, including Nemaiah Valley and Yohetta Valley, which form wide alpentals connecting the two lake valleys.

This article about a location in the Cariboo Regional District, Canada is a stub.