The headwaters of the river rise between the Caroline and Gibb Ranges.

The Gibb River was named in 1901 by the surveyor Charles Crossland during an expedition in the Kimberley area.

It is named after geologist Andrew Gibb Maitland, who had accompanied Crossland and was present during the first recorded sighting of the river.

In turn, it gives its name to the Gibb River Road, a former cattle route that stretches almost 660 kilometres (410 mi) across the Kimberley between the towns of Derby and the Kununurra and Wyndham junction of the Great Northern Highway.

The traditional owners of the area that the river flows through are the Ngarinjin people.