 The name of the river "Magnetawan", meaning "long open channel" in the Ojibwe language, refers to this section of the river.Byng Inlet was named in the honor former British Naval officer John Byng.It was named by Captain Henry Wolsey Bayfield, who charted the Canadian shores of lakes Huron and Superior, formerly involved with Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen, while surveying the lower Great Lakes Erie and Ontario.