Adopted 27 April 1945 on C3784, as labelled on British Admiralty Chart #1923B, 1867 et seq, and on BC Lands' map 1A, 1912, and as identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer.

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

"Named in 1786 by Captain Hanna of the Sea Otter, shortly after leaving Nootka on his second voyage from China to this coast, and adopted by Vancouver on his chart in 1792. (Vancouver, 8 °, II, p.309) Captain Duncan, of the Princess Royal, mentions this channel by the name of "Sir Charles Middleton's Sound" when he was trading between the Queen Charlotte Islands and the continental shore in 1788. Probably it was a name that Duncan, himself an ex-naval officer, had given to the sound, as Sir Charles Middleton, afterwards Lord Barham, was comptroller of the navy and a Rear admiral in 1788. (Dixon, "Further Remarks on Meares' Voyages," p.28; Letters, Byam Martin, I. p.218)"

Source: Walbran, John T; "British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: Their Origin and History"; published for the Geographic Board of Canada, Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)

"William Fitzhugh was one of a group of British East India Company merchants living in Canton who also traded privately and were associates of John Cox and John Reid, the owners of the Sea Otter, Capt James Hanna's ship.... Fitzhugh later became part of the syndicate that backed the 1789 expedition of Capt James Colnett [to this coast]..."

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009.