Adopted 7 February 1947 on C.3676, as labelled on British Admiralty Chart 582, 1864 et seq, and on BC map 2C, 1919.

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

"....the 'Bull' at the entrance to the harbour...was remarkably like a sitting bull with a tuft of treelets on top, forming a semblance to a feather headdress..." (Anne Spencer recollecting a 1931 visit, Victoria Colonist 19 December 1965, Islander magazine section, p.6).

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

Known by this name to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1840, and probably named at an earlier date, from the number of large and fierce sea lions (bulls) to be found in the neighbourhood. Sir George Simpson mentions the harbour in 1841 and speaks of the sea lions (Journey Round the World, Vol I, p.200).

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)

Named in 1841 by Sir George Simpson (Hudson's Bay Company governor) who on his visit there was struck by the large number of sea lions there. (from Cape Scott Story by Lester R. Peterson, excerpted in Raincost Chronicles; Harbour Publishing, 1976; p.92)

Source: included with note