This island, the largest feature in the northeast part of the Melchior Islands, is part of what was called "Île Melchior" by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05, under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, but the name Melchior now applies to the whole island group. Eta Island was roughly surveyed by Discovery Investigations personnel in 1927. The name, derived from eta, the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, appears to have been first used on a 1946 Argentine government chart following surveys of the Melchior Islands by Argentine expeditions in 1942 and 1943.[1]