Located on the western side of Gasters Bay, Conception Bay, since 1972, Kitchuses has been part of the incorporated community of Conception Harbor. The origin of the name is uncertain. It has been suggested that it is a contraction of Christopher Hughes's (although nobody of that name can be found in records for the area). In 1901 Archbishop M.F. Howley recorded that a local man suggested that the name came from Kate Gushue's, while Seary has suggested that the name may originate in an Indian word for breast, Quitouche, in reference to two hillocks behind the settlement.