Adopted 30 June 1911 as listed in 1911 Gazetteer as labeled on Reference Map 3.T.3. Applied to harbour and basin as early as 1892. May have previously been labeled as Quin-ang'-gus (maps/dates not cited).

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

"Quin-ang'-gus" was given as an Indigenous name for this harbour by a local First Nations man (1934).

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff, Filve S.2.33.1, L.I. 27-2-34.

Recorded as being named in association with the local Indigenous nation. For additional name origin information see Sooke (District Municipality) website.

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

"[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.