Gabriola Island is located just off the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo city, and is the northernmost of the Gulf Islands.
The name Gabriola is likely a corruption based on a mispronunciation of the Spanish
“gaviota”, or seagull, as in Punta de Gaviola—Cape Seagull—the name for a point on
the eastern end of the Island, found on Spanish maps from the 1790s.1
1. Gabriola Island,BC Geographical Names Information System.