The name Canmore is said to be an Anglicised form of the Gaelic Ceann Mór, which broadly translates to great head or hill.
Credit for naming the town of Canmore, Alberta in 1884 is given to Donald A. Smith of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who later became Lord Strathcona.
A 9th century king in his native Scotland, King Malcolm III, was nicknamed Malcolm Canmore, and it is thought that it is he who inspired the name for the railway siding that grew to become the town of Canmore.