Where does the name Kodiak come from?
As in any small town in America, there are varying stories about how the town name came about. The word “Kigikhtak” means island; “Kikhtahgmitt” island people; “kiktagamutes” islanders; Kikhtak, “island.” “Kadyak” comes closest to the pronunciation used by islanders. The people living here at the time of the first Russian contact were the Konyag. In 1890 the name Kadiak was adopted as the official spelling, but islanders continued to use “Kodiak” until, in the early 1920s, Kodiak was adopted.
