The old folks of the Municipality of Tabuelan attribute the origin of the town’s name from several sources. In the old days, Batawang River and the locality’s fishing grounds are noted for its plentiful “tabugok,” a kind of octopus. People would refer to this place as “tabugokan” (a native word meaning “the place where tabugok are found”) and through the evolution of words, the place came to be known as Tabuelan.