The mountain was named in 1913 by R.D. McCaw, who made a phototopographic survey along the route of the Banff-Windermere road. The survey was made for the British Columbia government. The name "Isabelle" given by McCaw to one of his photographic stations at the request of Mr. W.W. Bell, engineer in charge of construction of the Banff-Windermere Road at the time. Bell had asked McCaw to name a mountain after his wife Isabelle.