Chukchi people
The river Kanchalan, on the right bank of which Kanchalan stands, was shown as the Nerpichya on the 17th–18th century maps. The sedentary Chukchi people living in the vicinity were calling themselves "konchalyt" (lit. "the onlies"), that name, in the form of "Kanchalan", transferred first to the river and eventually to the inhabited locality.