It was mapped as part of Fold Island (Foldoya) by Norwegian cartographers from air photos taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition, 1936–37, but was identified as a separate island by an Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) geological party in 1961.

The island was named by the Antarctic Names Committee of Australia for W.R. McCarthy, an Australian petrologist who described several hundred specimens from Antarctica collected by ANARE geologists.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from "McCarthy Island".

Geographic Names Information System.

This Kemp Land location article is a stub.