Baby born in British Columbia city of Kelowna, named Kelowna

Kelowna, British Columbia
Kelowna (in 1920)

So far we’ve talked about two babies named for newly formed towns — Salida and Nira — and today we have one more: Kelowna.

The Canadian city of Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada, was settled in the mid-1800s and incorporated in 1905. The name of the city means “grizzly bear” in the Okanagan language.

For several decades during the early 1900s, the residents of Kelowna’s Chinatown made up as much as 15% of the total population. But the birth rate in Chinatown was quite low, as most of the residents were men whose families remained in China due to Canada’s discriminatory Chinese head tax.

Chinatown’s first baby didn’t arrive until early 1906. Her name? Kelowna, after her Canadian birthplace.

Sources: Okanagan history not sexy, but it is ours, UBC O 2013 GREEN EDUC 417 “Kelowna’s Chinatown” (vid)

Image: Bernard Avenue, Kelowna, B.C.

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