The Bookworm (mountain) adopted 2 September 1930, as labelled on A.J. Campbell's 1928 Garibaldi Park map (file G.1.30). Form of name changed to The Bookworms (mountain) 18 July 1979 on 92 G/15, to conform to entrenched local usage. From of name changed to The Bookworms (spires) 6 January 1995 on 92 G/15.

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

Named in 1922 by Neal Carter, "....[resembles the] profile of a man holding a book to his face, as seen from the north." (Place Names in Garibaldi Park, list from Neal Carter, October 1927, file G.1.30). First ascent Neal Carter, C. Townsend, 1922.

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

"In 1922, while returning from a climb of Castle Towers Mountain....trudging along the Sphinx Glacier névé. As we looked up at them, one of them struck us as having a silhouette of a cowled monk, and a thin blade of rock projected at an angle where he would be holding up a book as though reading. So we dubbed this pinnacle "The Bookworm" and tarried long enough to climb it (it's only about 150 feet high)...". (1970 letter from Dr. Neal M. Carter to Helen & Philip Akrigg)

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

'The Bookworm' was originally intended to apply to a single spire: "...one of several small spikes of rock...in the saddle between the Sphinx [sic] and [Mt. Carr]. The only reason Bookworm received a name at all was because of a fanciful likeness noted from one angle to a cubist gentleman perusing a cubist book....[this] insignificant sliver of rock....could only be shown clearly on a very large scale map....visible from one angle and fairly close at that, and not one which everybody possesses enough imagination to perceive." (1 November 1929 letter from Don Munday to BC's Chief Geographer, G.G. Aitken, file G.1.30). The allusion must be very vague, as entrenched usage now refers to 3 spires or nunataks as described by Karl Ricker, UBC Varsity Outdoors Club Journal, 1958, and in subsequent climbers guides (eg. Culbert, Climber's Guide to the Coast Ranges of BC, 1970; Culbert, Alpine Guide to Southwestern BC, 1974 and; Fairley, Guide to Hiking and Climbing in SW BC, 1986.)

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