Porte-clés Cape Breton Island Flag (unofficial), Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Island takes its name from its easternmost point, Cape Breton. This may have been named after the Basque fishing port of Capbreton, but more probably takes its name from the Bretons of northwestern France. A Portuguese mappa mundi of 1516–20 includes the label "Terra q(ue) foy descuberta por Bertomes" in the vicinity of the Gulf of St Lawrence, which means "Land discovered by Bretons". C(abo) dos Bretoes first appears on a map in 1516, and became the general name for both the island and the cape toward the end of the 16th century.