Canada’s second-oldest magazine has bowed to the vicissitudes of the Internet. It is changing its name because its unintended sexual connotation has caused the history journal to become snagged in Internet filters and has turned off potential readers.
The Beaver was founded in 1920 as a publication of the Hudson Bay Company, then a fur trader and now a department store chain. It has since become a broader magazine about Canadian history and politics. It will change its name to Canada’s History with its April issue, editor-in-chief Mark Reid said.
When The Beaver started publication, the name evoked Canada’s thriving fur industry, but 90 years later the fur trade has diminished and the magazine’s name has become slang for female genitals.
Reid said readers complained Internet filters were blocking emails, newsletters and other publicity material from The Beaver.
“Market research also showed us that younger Canadians, particularly women, were unlikely to buy a magazine called The Beaver,” he said.
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