Adopted 3 December 1946 on 92F/3, as labelled on BC Lands' map 2A, 1913 et seq.

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

"Named by John Buttle, assistant and naturalist to the Vancouver Island Exploration Expedition under the command of Dr. Brown, 1864. On this expedition Buttle examined and named Nah-mint lake, connected with Alberni canal [sic] by the Nahmint River, a name derived from the Nah-mint Indians residing in the neighbourhood." (Brown's Report, 1864, p.23). See also Nahmint Bay.

Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)

This bay is named for the Nahmintaht people, whose main village was apparently located on the Nahmint River, which was once home to a famous run of a large and much-fought-over spring salmon. The Nahmintaht were wiped out by another First Nation group, the Hitatso’ath, who took over the rich fishery at Nahmint Bay and later amalgamated with several other local tribes to form the Ucluelet First Nation. The Ucluelets occupied the Nahmint area seasonally until the late 1800s and still have a reserve at the mouth of the Nahmint River, called Kleykleyhous. Prospector Frank Gerard and his family settled on the bay in 1894 and investigated the area’s copper deposits but were not able to develop them. Extensive railway logging occurred later, and successfully sport-fishing lodge operated until 1974, by which time the salmon run had become severely depleted. Nahmint Lake, Nahmint Mountain, and the Nahmint River all take their names from the original Nahmintaht First Nation. (Entry for Nahmint Bay)

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 416.