"Kulleet Bay (not Chemainos Bay nor Chemainus Bay) adopted in the 9th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1910.

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

Labelled "Chemanis Bay" on Map of the Southern Districts of Vancouver Island, 1892.

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

Named in 1895 by the British Admiralty, after an [Indigenous community].

Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa

Kulleet, an anglicized form of k’eltis’, is a modification of the name of the original inhabitants of the area, who are members of the Chemainus First Nation and part of the Hul’qumi’num (Central Coast Salish) cultural group. The word means “sheltered area” or “protected bay” in the Island Halkomelem dialect, and the area around the bay, rich in herring and shellfish, is still a major reserve for the Chemainus people. Old versions of the name include Kulleets, Kulees, and Kuleets. Before 1895 this bay appeared on Admiralty charts as Chemainus Bay, so named by Captain George Richards on his 1859 survey, after the important Hul’qumi’num winter village located there, name Shts’emines (Chemainus). Today’s Chemainus Bay, farther south, was formerly known as Horseshoe Bay. It was renamed, also in 1895, because of its proximity to the logging community of Chemainus (qv), which developed in the 1860s.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 318.