Adopted 27 April 1945 on C.3591, as labelled on British Admiralty chart 580, 1862 et seq.

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.

Named in 1791 by Jose Maria Narvaez, in command of the small exploring vessel "Santa Saturnina", one of Lieutenant Commander Eliza's two vessels. Spelt on the old Spanish charts of Eliza (1791) and Galiano (1792) as "Texada", but mentioned by Captain Vancouver under the name of "Favada" in 1792.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Spanish naval officer Jose Narváez, who explored the Strait of Georgia in 1791 (the first European to do so) with the Santa Saturnina originally gave the name San Felix what is now Texada Island, probably because he was there on July 12, the feast day of the 3rd-century Christian martyr from Milan. Confusingly, Narváez applied the name Isla Texada to today’s Lasqueti Island. These names appear on the chart drawn by Juan Pantoja y Arriaga, the pilot aboard the San Carlos, the other vessel in the 1791 expedition. Francisco Eliza, the overall expedition Commander, shifted the names around on his official chart, changing San Felix de Tejada (Texada) was a prominent Spanish naval officer at the time of Eliza’s expedition; he later became a Captain General, responsible for the navy’s northern department, based at the important port and shipbuilding centre of El Ferrol in Galicia. Captain George Vancouver adopted the name on his 1792 expedition but mistakenly spelled it Favida in his journal and Feveda on his chart, an error that was corrected on subsequent editions. The 287-sq-km island, which had a population of about 1,100 in the early 2000s, has a long history as a mining centre, with gold, iron ore and limestone all important exports. There are three small communities, Van Anda, Gillies Bay and Blubber Bay, the last of which is connected by ferry to Powell River. The Schelt First Nation knows the island as Lháwtíkán and Spílksen.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, pp. 587-588.