Adopted 5 October 1960 on 92N, as submitted in September 1947 by Fred Beckey, American Alpine Club, and as identified in Canadian Alpine Journal vol XXXI, 1948, p.158.

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

"We did much mapping from here, so called the peak Mercator, after the famous navigator and map-maker." (September 1947 letter from Fred Beckey, American Alpine Club, file M.1.27#2); "Putnam and Michael made a long jaunt to the easternmost Cataract peak, a pretty rock pyramid atop an ice uplift. A frozen gully in the west face was its key. Because of the mapping vantage it gave, they named it Mt. Mercator..." (Two Months in the Coast Range, Fred Beckey; Canadian Alpine Journal vol XXXI, 1948, pp 148-171.) "So named because that was the peak from which I shot the final sights which tied in all my previous calculations..." (October 1960 letter from Mr. W.L. Putnam, Harvard Mountaineering Club, file M.1.55.)

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

Namesake is Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594), mathematician, geographer and mapmaker.
"Flemish cartographer. Born March 5, 1512, Rupelmonde, Flanders - died December 2, 1594, Duisburg, Duchy of Cleve. He received a master's degree in 1532 from the University of Louvain (Belgium), where he settled. By 24 he was a skilled engraver, calligrapher, and scientific-instrument maker. He and his colleagues made Louvain a centre for construction of maps, globes (terrestrial and celestial), and astronomical instruments. He was appointed court cosmographer to Duke Wilhelm of Cleve in 1564, and in 1569 he perfected what has become known as the Mercator projection, in which parallels and meridians are rendered as straight lines spaced so as to produce at any point an accurate ratio of latitude to longitude. It permitted mariners to steer a course over long distances, plotting straight lines without continually adjusting compass readings. While the meridians are equally spaced parallel vertical lines, the lines of latitude are spaced farther and farther apart as their distance from the Equator increases; on world maps the projection greatly enlarges areas distant from the Equator."
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Source: included with note