Like nearby Mount Brunswick, which is Mount Harvey's line parent in prominence terms, and like other placenames in the Howe Sound region, the mountain was named in associated with the marine battle of 1794 known as the Glorious First of June. Such names were conferred by Captain Richards of during his survey of the region in 1859. John Harvey (1740–1794) was the captain of and lost a limb in that battle, dying from complications from it soon afterwards.