Victor is named for Chief Victor of the Bitterroot Salish, whose proper name was Xweɫxƛ̣ ̓cín (Many Horses). Chief Victor met Lewis and Clark when he was 15 years old in September 1805 at Ross' Hole and later he would refuse to cede the Bitterroot Valley to the United States' Washington Territory. After Chief Victor's death in 1870, the Salish were forced to move to the Flathead Reservation.