Canada got its name from a misunderstanding!
Just like duct tape and French fries, Canada’s name was accidental. Some Iroquois natives were trying to indicate to early explorer Jacques Cartier a small village (which was situated in present-day Quebec city). The village’s name was Kanata.
Cartier misunderstood and used the similar sounding word Canada to describe the entire area he had stumbled upon. From then on, the true north strong and free was referred to as Canada. Canada became it's very own country in 1867. However, only very recently, on February 15th 1965 did Canada get its own national flag.