Dokdo had been referred to as Usando and Gajido, but in 1882, when neighboring Ulleungdo was first settled, the residents began to call the island Dokseom. Dok means dol, or stone, in the local dialect, and the settlers of Ulleungdo, who saw the island as comprised of stones, referred to it as dokseom—stone island. Later, when the Korean word seom, for island, was converted to a Chinese character, the island received the name Dokdo.

The French named the island the Liancourt Rocks after the French whaling ship Liancourt which charted the island in 1849, while the English referred to it as the Hornet Rocks. The Russians called the island Menalai and Olivutsa Rocks. The Japanese first referred to Ulleungdo as Takeshima and Dokdo as Matsushima, but in 1905, when they claimed the island as Japanese territory, they began to call Dokdo Takeshima.