This island group was named by
John Haller during the
1956–1958 Expedition to East Greenland led by
Lauge Koch, to pay tribute to the work of the 1906–08
Denmark expedition. Previously the
Duke of Orléans in 1905 had given the name "Îles Françaises" to an island group further north, approximating to the position of the present
Franske Islands. A few years later the 1906–08
Denmark expedition had transferred the name "Franske Islands" to that position, corresponding to the northernmost islands the
Duke of Orléans Arctic Expedition could have seen. A number of maps, such as the
World Aeronautical Charts of 1952, among others, retain the outdated names for this island group located further south —"Franske Islands" or
Îles Françaises. ==Geography==