This pure white denizen of the north was named after the an early Alaskan explorer, William H. Dall. The species was named by another explorer by the name of Nelson in honour of the earlier explorer. Strangely enough, there is no record of Dall ever being in Dall's Sheep country as he was primarily an ocean and river explorer.

In British Columbia, there is a population of 500 of the white sheep. They live in the extreme northwest portion of the province, with the whole population living to the west of Bennett Lake. A large percentage of the sheep live in Tatshenshini Park. It has been noted that because of the close proximity to the Yukon border, many of the B.C. sheep live in the Yukon for part of the year and the Yukon Sheep in B.C.