[2] According to legend, the strait was named after Solibao, a Negrito chieftain, who lived at the outlet of the Surigao River.

Migrating Visayan fishermen gradually formed a settlement there, and when Spanish explorers visited the place, they probably misheard the name as Surigao instead of Solibao.

[3] A different theory explains that Surigao may be derived from the Spanish word surgir, meaning "swift water" or "current".

The American battleships of the U.S. 7th Fleet Support Force commanded by Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf were able to "cross the T" against Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura's Southern Force; nearly all of which, including the battleships Yamashiro and Fusō, were sunk.

All but one of these American battleships had been in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese sneak attack and either damaged or sunk and subsequently refloated and repaired.