 "Cocos" refers to the abundant coconut trees, while "Keeling" is William Keeling, who discovered the islands in 1609.John Clunies-Ross, who sailed there in the "Borneo" in 1825, called the group the "Borneo Coral Isles", restricting "Keeling" to North Keeling, and calling South Keeling "the Cocos properly so called".The form "Cocos (Keeling) Islands", attested from 1916, was made official by the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955.