Adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, in association with Sooke River.

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

"The 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.

"...the party was forced to shift their camp to an island on the lake [Sooke Lake], which was christened Exploration Island." (from Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition report, p.14, referring to July 1864 journal entry (by Peter Leech?).

Source: Provincial Archives' Place Names File (the "Harvey File") compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions