Fingal's Cave was originally part of the Ulva estate of the Clan MacQuarrie from an early date until 1777.[1] The cave was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by 18th-century naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772.[2][3]

It became known as Fingal's Cave after the eponymous hero of an epic poem by 18th century Scots poet-historian James Macpherson. It formed part of his Ossian cycle of poems claimed to have been based on old Scottish Gaelic poems. In Irish mythology, the hero Fingal is known as Fionn mac Cumhaill, and it is suggested that Macpherson rendered the name as Fingal (meaning "white stranger")[4] through a misunderstanding of the name which in old Gaelic would appear as "Finn".[5] The legend of the Giant's Causeway has Finn (or Fionn) building the causeway between Ireland and Scotland.[6]