If you want to get all scientific, a lake is a naturally made body of water. A pond or a reservoir is a man made structure. For instance, in Missouri, you've probably heard of Bull Shoals Lake, Table Rock Lake or Lake of the Ozarks....not lakes at all....they have dams on them and therefore reservoirs. We actually have no "lakes".
THe most widesprad nomenclature generally refers to ponds greater than 10 acres as a lake. My business, Midwest Lake Management, just sounded better than Midwest Pond Management to me, so I that's the name I chose. I figured it would help in cutting down on the number of phone calls I received from people with water gardens (backyard ponds). It's worked for the most part. The last real lake I was on was in Canada.
I suppose in the real world it doesn't matter, or else I would have chosen a different name for my business!!
