Lake Names Question

[Airedale1]

I am hoping that somebody here can explain to me why some lakes have the term, "lake" first and some put "lake" afterwards, e.g. Lake Winnipesaukee and Lake Wentworth as opposed to, Squam Lake and Silver Lake.

I thought if there was a reason that maybe somebody here would know.

[camp guy]

That, Airedale1, is a very interesting question. I hope some historian can provide an answer.

[tis]

That is a good question. I also have wondered why some streets are road while others are drive, or street or avenue or whatever.

[RailroadJoe]

I know why highways were called turnpikes, but still not sure why ponds and lakes are different.

[camp guy]

In response to RailroadJoe, I went to Google and typed in his question: why are lakes "lakes" and ponds "ponds. I will leave it up to you to do this to read the answer. I thought the answer was simple enough to satisfy me, but I am sure that some professor-type might expand it and add in all sorts of qualifications. Hey, river vs stream; hill vs mound; chocolate vs vanilla ?

[Kamper]

Usually "lake" first means it was named by the French. Winnipisaukee is an obvious exception to that rule.

[RailroadJoe]

CampGuy Thanks. I tried to distingish the difference, but they only confuse more. I'll stick with whatever they call it , it is all right with me.

[tis]

Unless you go to Florida. Then a puddle is called a lake.

[SAMIAM]

Some ponds,such as Dan Hole,are larger than some lakes.......go figure.

[SIKSUKR]

Probably the smallest "lake" I know of is Profile lake at Cannon Mt at only 13 acres.Right next to it lies Echo Lake and not much bigger at 38 acres.

[surfnsnow]

I have the same questions about mountains - mt. Washington vs cannon mt for example

[codeman671]

I am hoping that somebody here can explain to me why some lakes have the term, "lake" first and some put "lake" afterwards, e.g. Lake Winnipesaukee and Lake Wentworth as opposed to, Squam Lake and Silver Lake.

I thought if there was a reason that maybe somebody here would know.

If I remember correctly, the sign that the state installed at the new Downings Landing facility launch is "Winnipesaukee Lake". Not sure why.

[BroadHopper]

If I remember correctly, the sign that the state installed at the new Downings Landing facility launch is "Winnipesaukee Lake". Not sure why.

Maybe the legislature thought it was politically correct! :cool:

[Phantom]

, but still not sure why ponds and lakes are different.

RailroadJoe -- I can help with this one -- at least in Mass.

There are three categories given to a body of water based on it's size (acreage) I am not clear on the exact sizes so I will defer on that for the time being but the categories going from smallest to largest is
Pond
Great Pond
Lake

I believe that anything including & larger than a Great Pond must provide Public access.

I live on a Great Pond in MA


Hope that helps

[Kamper]

I was told that a pond was shallow enough for light to reach the bottom and a lake was too deep for that. I this is the true criteria, I have no idea how they figured it out before scuba gear.

[Slickcraft]

I don't think that any science was involved in the names. Most bodies of water were given a name long ago, that name being whatever the person(s) naming it wanted.

Same with most roads. If 200 years ago the Jones family built a road it could have been known as: Jones Road or Jones Street or Jones Lane or Jones Way or whatever. Jones Turnpike if they had a toll station.

Now if Jones had a pond that they wanted to sound big so folk would use the turnpike to get there, it would probably be Jones Lake or maybe even Lake Jones.

[joey2665]

http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/bb/documents/bb-49.pdf

This is the fact sheet of Ponds vs Lakes from the NH DES

[jrc]

"Names for lakes and ponds generally originated from the early settlers living near them, and the use of the terms "lake" and "pond" was completely arbitrary."

"However, they also recognize that "deep" lakes and ponds function differently than "shallow" lakes and ponds,"

Remember, we paid someone in Concord to write this.