Jules Verne, in his novel The Mysterious Island, depicts how people draw on various sources to name geographical features on an uninhabited island. This provides a model for analysing the names of Marion Island and its geographical features, which can be compared with the typology of the Australian National Placenames Survey (ANPS). A brief history of the naming of Marion Island itself precedes an account of the sources of the names for its features. There are similarities and differences between the kinds of sources used on Verne's island, Marion Island, and the South African mainland and in the ANPS typology. Developments in recording the names on Marion Island and placing them on a map are described. Since 2001, public reaction to pre-democratic naming practices in South Africa has influenced practices related to Marion Island.