Pantoja Islands adopted 6 November 1934 on C.345 as submitted by Hydrographic Service, not "Centre Islands" as identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer.

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

Re-named by H.D. Parizeau, Hydrographic Service, to avoid duplication, and in association with the surrounding "Spanish Pilot Group" of islands; this one after Juan Pantoja y Arriaga, first pilot of Francisco Eliza's vessel, San Carlos, used in Spanish explorations of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and southern portion of the Strait of Georgia in 1791. Years earlier, Pantoja had been second pilot aboard the Princesa, undertaking more cursory explorations of the Pacific coast from San Blas to Mount St. Elias. The following year, 1792, Pantoja served as first pilot for Jacinto Caamaño in the frigate Aranzazu, exploring the British Columbia mainland coast north of Vancouver Island. A copy of Pantoja's journal is in the Bancroft Library, San Francisco.

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