 The placename Dùnan on the south coast may be a reference to a little fort of some antiquity.Although Haswell-Smith suggests that the name means "yew island", the preponderance of Norse names in the Outer Hebrides suggests that the second element of "Iubhard" may be a corruption of "fjord"/firth.Dean Munro visited the island in 1549, and reported "pasture and schielling of store, with faire hunting of ottars out of their bouries".