The name Quelpart apparently came from the first European ship to spot the island, the Dutch Quelpaert, which sighted it after being blown off course on its way to the Dutch trading base in Nagasaki, Japan, from Taiwan (then the Dutch colony of Formosa).
O nome aparentemente proviña do primeiro buque europeo que viu á illa, o holandés Quelpaert, que o viu logo de saírse do seu rumbo no camiño desde a base comercial holandesa en Nagasaki, Xapón, a Taiwán (entón a colonia holandesa de Formosa).