Cowichan Head adopted 6 November 1934 on National Defence sheet 415d, Saanich, as labelled on BC map 2A, 1913, not "Cowitchen Head" as spelled on British Admiralty Chart 2840, 1861 et seq.

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

This point is of historical interest, being the point in descriptions defining the land in this vicinity sold by the Indians to the Hudson's Bay Company (James Douglas), according to provincial archivist, Mr. W. Newcomb, 13 June 1934.

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

"Named in 1859 by Captain Richards, HMS Plumper, in association with Cowichan Bay and River..". [see Cowichan Bay for origin information]

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)

The bay was named about 1850 by officers of the Hudson's Bay Company for the powerful Coast Salish First Nation - the most populous in BC - that occupies this territory (and now spells its name Quw'utsun'). Cowichan Lake, Cowichan Station, the Cowichan Valley Regional District, etc, all derive their names from the same name source. Cowichan is an adaptation of an Island Halkomelem term for "warming the back," which, in turn, refers to a bare, rocky formation on the side of Mount Tzouhalem, said to look like a frog sunning itself. There were many variants of this name in the old days, includeing Cowichin, Cowitchin, Cowitchan, K'au'itchin and Ka-way-chin. The earliest version recorded probably that of the Hudson's Bay Company trader John Work, who mentioned the Coweechin in 1824. In fact, so many Quw'utsun' people migrated across the Straights of Georgia each year to occupy summer village sites on the Fraser and harvest its great salmon runs that Work identified that river as the Coweechin. The Songhees First Nation name for Cowichan Head, the northern boundary of their territory, was Tiumalatchung.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, pp. 137-138.