Fair Haven: In an earlier section, discussing the place names given by Cook and Lane that might have resulted from their "wicked" sense of humor, the community of Famish Gut was listed.

Famish Gut is now known as Fair Haven. It would appear that it was Lane, rather than Cook, who named this community. Located on the south shore of the Isthmus of Avalon, the following comes from the ENL:

E.R. Seary (1971) traces the name Famish Cap to Lane's map of 1772, and he speculates that both Famishgut, as it was then spelled, and the companion settlement of Pinchgut, both "may refer to a period when Lane's crew was on short rations" (p. 84).

Although Seary (1980) states that the name Famishgut, (later called Famish Gut and Famish Cove) was changed by the Newfoundland Government's Nomenclature Board c.1905, it does not appear on the Nomenclature Board's list of changes (Yearbook: 1915), nor in any subsequent Census as Fair Haven until 1951.

Seary (1971) states that Famish Cove (the name by which the settlement appeared in most census reports after 1874) was changed by a governmental proclamation on June 29, 1940.

Both Famishgut Island and Famishgut Point were also changed to Fair Haven Island and Fair Haven Point for the purposes of cartography and navigation.

Seary suggests that the name change came about because the new name. Fair Haven, was "euphemistic... bestowed with the idea of making a good impression or establishing favourable auspices" (p. 6).

The only group which has not accepted this new name has been the Admiralty which, according to Scary, has continued to mark the settlement and its landmarks by their "vigorous, blunt old name," as that agency is "not given to making concessions to squeamishness" (p. 84).

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/FairHavenNL