Adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924, as labelled on British Admiralty Chart #1907, surveyed by Captain Kellett, 1847. See Sooke (District Municipality) for origin information.

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

"[Sooke Inlet] was named in 1846 after the region's First Nation inhabitants by Captain Henry Kellet of HMS Herald, who made an early survey of the south end of Vancouver Island. The name of the Sooke people was initially pronounced soak and was spelled Soke or Soake by the area's pioneers; many other spellings have also been recorded, including Sâ'ok, Sock, Sok, and Tsohke. The preferred form today is T'sou-ke. The word supposedly derives from the name of a stickleback fish that was found at the mouth of the Sooke River. Spanish naval officer Manuel Quimper, who was the first European to explore the area, in 1790, called the inlet Puerto de Revillagigedo, after Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguyo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo and viceroy of New Spain, 1789-94." (p. 556)

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

Named "Puerto de Revilla Gigedo" (applying to the inlet, harbour and basin) on 23 June 1790 by Lieutenant Manuel Quimper, after the Viceroy of Mexico City, who the previous year had sailed from Spain in the same vessel with Quimper and Quadra, before assuming his duties in Mexico.

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