Nationwide Bigfoot Names

In the United States, Bigfoot is known by different names depending on the region and local folklore. Here are two of the most well-known names in the United States and Canada:

• Bigfoot

The name Bigfoot originated in 1958 when a newspaper article in The Humboldt Times, a Northern California publication, reported on large footprints found near Bluff Creek, California. A construction worker named Jerry Crew discovered the tracks, and his crew began referring to the mysterious creature that left them as “Big Foot.”

The name stuck and was popularized further as media outlets picked up the story. While tales of giant, hairy, human-like creatures existed in Native American folklore long before this, the 1958 article is what cemented “Bigfoot” as the widely recognized term for the cryptid.

• Sasquatch

The name Sasquatch comes from the Halkomelem language, spoken by the Indigenous Coast Salish peoples of British Columbia. It is derived from the word sásq’ets, which refers to a “wild man” or “hairy man” that figures into their folklore. The term was popularized in the 1920s by J.W. Burns, a Canadian teacher and journalist who collected Indigenous stories about the creature and introduced “Sasquatch” to a broader audience.

Over time, the name became widely associated with the legendary ape-like creature also known as Bigfoot, particularly in North American cryptozoology.