How did vanuatu get its name?

Vanuatu's name comes from a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandez de Queirós in 1606, searching for the Terra Australis Incognita. Believing they had found a new continent, Queirós named the island Espíritu Santo, after the Holy Spirit. Other islands were given Spanish names such as Vera Cruz, including one called Vanuatu. Later, the name Vanuatu was applied throughout the archipelago, and the islands regained independence from France and the United Kingdom in 1980 under this name.