@Arizona Docent: Yes and no. I can't speak for all european nations. But: There is allways a confusion between these two species at least in german speaking countries (Germany, Austria, biggest part of Switzerland). The german name for Alces alces = (american? english for moose) is "Elch", which sounds very similar to Elk.
For Cervus canadensis = (american? english for elk) the germans use the term Wapiti (although I presume that the word wapiti comes from an american native language).
To make it more complicated: In the times, where the elk/wapiti was designated as a subspecies of the red deer, the term wapiti in Germany was not only used for North American (sub-)species but occasionally also for some East Asian (sub-)species (e.g. Altaimaral = Altaiwapiti), while the varieties from Europe were allways red deer (german: Rothirsch, e.g. Central European red deer, Iberian red deer).
