Port Effingham adopted in the 6th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1906. Form of name changed to Effingham Bay 5 October 1950 on C.3638.

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

"Named Port Effingham in July 1788 by Captain Meares in the trading vessel Felice, in honour of the Rt. Hon. Thomas Howard, third Earl of Effingham, Deputy Earl Marshal of England. At the time of anchoring here, Meares was returning in the Felice from trading along the coast to the southward of Nootka [as far as 45° 30' now known as Cape Meares [on the Oregon coast], during which cruise he crossed the entrance to a large inlet, recognizing it, like Barkley had done the previous year, as the disputed strait of Juan de Fuca (Cook having denied its existence), and regarding which Meares states in his journal: "We shall call by the name of its original discoverer, John de Fuca." Barkley had also restored this name..."

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)