Adopted 29 May 1901.

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

After John Macoun (1831 - 1920), Canadian botanist and natural historian, who had accompanied Sandford Fleming on his 1872 explorations to locate a railway route through the Rocky Mountains. Macoun accompanied Alfred Selwyn, Geological Survey of Canada, on similar explorations in British Columbia's Peace River area in 1875. Macoun was appointed as Naturalist of the Geological Survey of Canada in 1882 - the Survey's first professional without specific training and credentials in geology.

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

"Named by the Rev. W.S. Green in 1888..." (A.O. Wheeler, The Selkirk Range, Vol I, 1905, p.86). "On July 28 [1888], Green and Swanzy...gave the following names to topographical features: Geikie Glacier, Mt Donkin, Mt Fox, Mt Dawson, Mt Deville (now Mt Selwyn) and Mt Macoun." (excerpt from 'William Spotswood Green, Pioneer in the Selkirk Range' by J.Monroe Thorington, published in Canadian Alpine Journal, vol XXX, 1947, p.108)

Source: included with note

"Up here was no resting-place, no fuel, and it was doubtful if we could follow the glacier down to the side of the mountain we had called after Professor Macoun." (from 'Among the Selkirk Glaciers, Being the Account of a Rough Survey in the Rocky Mountain Regions of British Columbia' by William Spotswood Green, MacMillan & Co, London,1890, p.107). (quotation from Green's book provided March 2012 by John G. Woods, researcher/Wildvoices Consulting, Revelstoke.) Green's book is available online from Google Books.

Source: included with note