The feature was named by US-ACAN (2006) after Stephen Douglas Cairns, research zoologist, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 1985–2006; Board of Associated Editors, Antarctic Research Series, American Geophysical Union, 1990–95.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD). Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly updated.