 Officials later changed the name to Île d'Orléans in honour of the second son of King Francis I, Henri II, the Duke of Orléans.The island was also known as "Grande Île", "Sainte-Marie", and "Saint-Laurent" for certain periods in the 17th and 18th centuries.Early French settlers, immigrating mostly from the Normandy and Poitou regions in France, were attracted to the island because of its fertile soil.