The islands were discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10, under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, and named by him for one of the Dutch directors of the Magellan Whaling Company at Punta Arenas.

Charcot applied the name to the scattered rocks and islands between Cape Adriasola and Cape Alexandra, and the name was restricted to the group described by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UKAPC) following definitive mapping by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in 1961 and the British Royal Navy Hydrographic Survey (BRNHS) in 1963.

Worth Reef is an arc of rocks forming the northernmost part of the Henkes Islands.

[5] The second largest island in the group is Crouch Island, surveyed by BRNHS in 1963, and named for Alan Crouch, BAS general assistant at Adelaide station.

[5][6] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.