"Nigei Island (not Galiano Island)" adopted in the 5th Report of the Geograhic Board of Canada, 30 June 1904.

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

"The name of this island previous to the year 1900 was Galiano, given by the Spanish explorers Galiano and Valdes in 1792. It was changed to Nigei by the Geographic Board of Canada to avoid duplication of names, there being another Galiano Island (named by Captain Richards, 1859) to the southward, in the strait of Georgia. Nigei is the hereditary name of the principal chief of the Nahwitti tribe, a tribe which, years ago, held undisputed sway on the northern shore of Vancouver Island. (communicated by Mr. George Hunt of Alert 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)

"...Nigei could also come from the Kwakwala word for 'mountain'. The name is pronouced nee-gee, with a hard 'g'. "

Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997

Labelled "Galiano Island" on British Admiralty Chart 582, 1864 et seq, and on Trutch's 1871 map of British Columbia. Identified as "Galiano Island-North" in Rupert District pre-emption records 22 February 1912 - 26 July 1912 (presumably to distinguish this from Galiano Island, off Nanaimo). Mis-spelled "Nigel Island" in the 1966 BC Gazetteer.

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

"...[ Galiano ] was first applied to this island by Vancouver on his chart in 1798, in honour of Dionisio Alcalá Galiano. In 1900 it was changed to "Nigei" after a chief, in order to avoid confusion with another island of the same name in the Gulf of Georgia."

Source: Wagner, Henry R; The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America; University of California Press, Berkley, 1937