The meaning of the name is the (is)land of (the parish) Bremanger. The original name of the island must however have been Smöls. In Norse literature is the mountain Hornelen called Smalsarhorn, which means the horn of (the island) Smöls. The old name is related to the word möl which means bank made of stones and gravel. (For the missing s see the Indo-European s-mobile.)