Lake Erie (; ) is the fourth largest
lake (by surface area) of the five
Great Lakes in
North America, and the thirteenth largest globally if measured in terms of surface area. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by
volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water . Lake Erie's northern shore is bounded by the
Canadian province of
Ontario, with
US states of
Ohio,
Pennsylvania and
New York on its southern and easternmost shores and
Michigan on the west. These jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake by water boundaries. The lake was named by the
Erie tribe of
Native Americans who lived along its southern shore. That
Iroquoian tribe called it
"Erige" ("cat") because of its unpredictable and sometimes violently dangerous nature. It is a matter of conjecture whether the lake was named after the tribe, or if the tribe was called
"Erie" because of its proximity to the lake.