Somenos Lake is located within the Somenos District, north of Duncan. Somenos is the plural form of the Cowichan word for a resting place.1 According to the Akriggs, the name originally referred to an area on the Cowichan River that was calm enough for canoers to rest before they continued their journey upstream.2
1. G. P. V. Akrigg and H. B. Akrigg, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997), 249.