Why is one lake "Lake _____ " while another one is "_____ Lake"?

because Lake Ontario is a National park lake and Wabun lake is a state park lake.

Wikipedia to the rescue.

“Smaller lakes tend to put the word “lake” after the name, as in Green Lake, while larger lakes often invert the word order, as in Lake Ontario, at least in North America. In some places, the word “lake” does not correctly appear in the name at all (e.g., Windermere in Cumbria).”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake

I was always under the impression it depended on the size, like the Pond and Lake differentiation.

@johnpowell

Wow, never knew that. I always thought it was just random. I guess you learn something new every day. :)

@DominicX :: I didn’t know it either. I actually sat down and wrote down all the lakes I could think of looking for a pattern. I couldn’t really sense a good pattern so I went to Wikipedia. I wasn’t really expecting to find a answer there.

In the town of Lake Placid, the larger body of water is Lake Placid and the smaller one, MIrror Lake.

If the guy who named it was left-handed, it became Lake_______________, if he was right-handed it became _________________Lake.