The name derives from James Weddell's map of 1825 whereon the name "Melville Island" appears for the already named Laurie Island; it was given for Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, who was First Lord of the Admiralty, 1812–27 and 1828–30, including the period of Antarctic exploration by Weddell.
Robert Louis Stevenson | Robert De Niro | Robert E. Lee | Robert Mugabe | Robert Redford | Robert Burns | Robert Bosch GmbH | Herman Melville | Robert | Robert A. Heinlein | Robert Schumann | Robert Browning | Robert Rauschenberg | Robert Plant | Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson | Viscount | Robert Altman | Robert Mitchum | Robert Frost | Robert Southey | Robert F. Kennedy | Vickers Viscount | Robert Maxwell | Robert Graves | Robert E. Howard | Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein | Robert Fripp | Robert Fisk | Robert Rodriguez | Robert Motherwell |
Matilda Cockburn (Cockpen, Midlothian, 7 February 1772 - 1842), married at St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, Midlothian, on 13 July 1798 to Sir Robert Dundas of Beechwood, 1st Baronet Dundas (30 June 1761 - Heriot Row, Edinburgh, Midlothian, 4 January 1835), and had issue