Being one of the few communities settled by Irish people, it is named after Saint Brendan of Clonfert.

According to Wikipedia contributors, St. Brendan, (c. AD 484 - c. 577) (Irish: Naomh Bréanainn or Naomh Breandán) also referred to as "Brendan moccu Altae" (Brendan of the Fosterling Folk), is also known as "the Navigator", "the Voyager", "the Anchorite", and "the Bold".

He was one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is primarily renowned for his legendary quest to the "Isle of the Blessed".

In term of resettlement, the ENL addresses how St. Brendan's and the Cottel's Island opposed any attempts: Most observers at the time agreed that the strong sense of community on the island, which enabled it to resist the trend, was rooted in its religious and ethnic identity.

In the mid- 1960s services on the island were upgraded -an acknowledgement by the provincial government that this was one island where "the moment [had] not yet arrived" for resettlement... A diesel generator was erected in 1963, a central school in 1965 and a ferry service to the mainland begun in 1966.

But in the 25 years between 1966 (pop. 763) and 1991 the population of St. Brendan's was approximately halved, as many of those working in construction trades off the island relocated and the majority of young people also left.

The following passage from the ENL gives one an idea of the number of smaller communities that use to dot the coast of Newfoundland, many of which were resettled:

Before the name St. Brendan's was adopted early in the twentieth century the settled coves on the island were considered separate communities. Historically, about half the - which population have lived at what is known locally as Shoal's Cove - appears on most maps in 1994 as either St. Brendan's, Shoal Cove or Mole Cove.

The island was first settled by fishing servants and their families who moved to Dock Cove from King's Cove and Keels in the 1840s Shortly thereafter Hayward's Cove was settled by families from Great Black Island, southeast of St. Brendan's....

Meanwhile, Shoal's Cove was settled in part by new arrivals from communities in the Keels area and also by Irish Roman Catholics who moved there from nearby Gooseberry Islands in the 1850s and 1860s in order to be able to supplement the fishery with woods work and small farms....

By 1857 there were 139 people living in the three coves at the northeast corner of Cottel's Island: 60 at "Sholes" Cove, 37 at "Highmores" Cove and 42 at "Dog" Cove.... Although Shoal's, Hayward's ands are somewhat sheltered from the northeast wind by Gooseberry Island, Labrador fishermen began to use coves on the southeast side of the island as "winter harbours" for their schooners.

Sheltered by numerous islets, Shalloway Cove, Clay Cove and Penny's Cove were soon settled as well (in the Census these three were most often enumerated as Shalloway Cove).

The most recent census showed that in 2016: there were 145 residents in St. Brendan's, a 1.4% decrease from the 147 recorded 5-years previously in 2011.

Attempts to find out more about some of the other smaller islands and /or communities (e.g., Shalloway Cove) remained futile to the research team.

Cottel Island: From the ENL, comes the following information on Cottel Island:

The largest island [in Bonavista Bay], Cottel's Island, is 9.5 km (6 mi) long and the maze of islands and channels is generally sheltered and navigable with the possible exception of such bays and reaches as Damnable Bay, Bloody Reach and Fair and False Bay, whose names indicate otherwise.

The shoreline in this area is generally steep, 76-91 m (250-300 ft), but interwoven with flat terraces and low lying necks of land that extend between some islands....

These numerous islands, ranging from small rocks to fair-sized islands, extend to as much as 13 km (7 nautical miles) offshore and render navigation dangerous on this foggy part of the coast.

These islands, with the exception of Greenspond [above] are largely deserted but their names reflect geographical features (Flat Islands so called for their dome shape), animal life (Fox Island, Deer Island, Partridge Island, Gull Island), and the families or fishermen who occupied them (Drake Island, Pinchard's Island, Kean's Island).

The steep shoreline and rolling hills of the central Bonavista Bay region give way to a coast that rarely rises 30 m (100 ft) above sea level...

There are three communities shown on the Traveller's Map of NL on Cottel's Island: St. Brendan's, Dock Cove and Shalloway Cove.

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