Adopted 3 December 1946 on 92F/3, as labelled on BC map 2A, 1938, in association with Nahmint Lake and River.

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

This bay is named for the Nahmintaht people, whose main village was apparently located on the Nahmint River, which was once home to a famous run of a large and much-fought-over spring salmon. The Nahmintaht were wiped out by another First Nation group, the Hitatso’ath, who took over the rich fishery at Nahmint Bay and later amalgamated with several other local tribes to form the Ucluelet First Nation. The Ucluelets occupied the Nahmint area seasonally until the late 1800s and still have a reserve at the mouth of the Nahmint River, called Kleykleyhous. Prospector Frank Gerard and his family settled on the bay in 1894 and investigated the area’s copper deposits but were not able to develop them. Extensive railway logging occurred later, and successfully sport-fishing lodge operated until 1974, by which time the salmon run had become severely depleted. Nahmint Lake, Nahmint Mountain, and the Nahmint River all take their names from the original Nahmintaht First Nation. (Entry for Nahmint Bay)

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 416.