Bruna De Heceta explored Southeast Alaska in 1775 as lieutenant acting as captain on the Santiago (Bancroft, 1886, p.197). The Island is listed as being named in 1879 by William Healey Dall of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (GNIS Detail, 1981). I could not find an original source for this.
Browsing through “The works of Hubert Howe Bancroft,” I noticed several people’s names that were given to land in this region (Bancroft, 1886). Other than Heceta, names that stood out to me were Maurelle, Anguilla, and Sonora. Sonora Island is the island that is also Dàaw Hit (Thornton, 2012, p.167). Anguilla Island was already named Kakuxdoowu, which means on the point dwellers (Thornton, 2012, p. 167). This is an island that is part of what is now called the Maurelle Islands. Another in this island chain is Daa Gíl’ Daa, which I wanted to point out because of its practical name. It means an island with cliffs around it (Thornton, 2012, p.167).
I do not know if the Tlingit ever had a name for the island of Heceta. I did find names for individual locations on Heceta Island. The protected area of Warm Chuck Inlet is where the most named locations are at. Warm Chuck itself is Yat’àayi Héen which translates as this place warm water. I examined topographical maps that show the water depth in this area as shallow. I speculate the name means that the water is warmed by the sun at the head due to the shallow water depth. Entering the inlet, we have ship rock or Yakw Te. On the North side of the inlet is the winter village Taakw.aan. Across from Taakw.aan is S’ik.héeni, which translates as black bear creek. As you leave the inlet heading North, is Ts’x’wa.aan Village. The main village that residents occupied was Ts’x’wa.aan (Olson, 1989). On the opposite side of Heceta Island is a place where bird eggs were collected, and it was named just that, Bird Egg Island or K’watl’ x’áat’ (Thornton, 2012, p.167). Place names would have been learned matrilineal, but several things contribute to why most of them were lost.
References
Bancroft, H. (1886). The works of Hubert Howe Bancroft volume XXXIII. A, L. Bancroft & Company. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/worksofhuberthow33banx.
Gnis detail. (1981). Heceta island. US Geological Survey. https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=GNISPQ%3A3%3A%3A%3ANO%3A%3AP3_FID%3A1422507.
Olson, W. (1989). Warm Chuck Village Report of 1989 research. Unpublished manuscript, University of Alaska Southeast.
Thornton, T. (2012). Our grandparents’ names on the land. University of Washington Press.