information:classification, information:highlighting, linguistic:translation
Name

The Inuktitut name for the island is Qikiqtaaluk, which means "very big island" (qikiqtaq "island" + -aluk "very big") and in Inuktitut syllabics is written as ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ. This name is used for the administrative region the island is part of (Qikiqtaaluk Region), as well as in multiple places in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, such as some smaller islands: Qikiqtaaluk in Baffin Bay and Qikiqtaaluk in Foxe Basin. Norse explorers referred to it as Helluland ("stone land"). In 1576, English seaman Martin Frobisher made landfall on the island, naming it "Queen Elizabeth's Foreland" and Frobisher Bay is named after him. The island is named after English explorer William Baffin, who, in 1616, came across the island while trying to discover the Northwest Passage. It was also formerly known as James Island.