根据《The Oxford Companion of Food and Drink》,千岛酱的名称推测起源于美国和加拿大间圣罗伦斯河上的千岛群岛[7],当地常耳闻的说法是,一位钓鱼向导的妻子 Sophia LaLonde 做了千岛酱当做丈夫 George 在岸边吃晚餐的调味料[8]。一名加拿大女演员May Irwin(英语:May Irwin)尝过千岛酱之后,拿到了制作方法[9],接着把作法给了另一位居住在千岛群岛的暑期度假居民George Charles Boldt, Sr.(英语:George Boldt)。Boldt经营华道夫-阿斯多里亚酒店,并把千岛酱列入菜单内[10]。1959年《国家地理杂志》一篇报导中指出,千岛酱据说是 Boldt 的主厨发明的。[11]
Weaver, Louise Bennett; LeCron, Helen Cowles (1917). A thousand ways to please your husband, with Bettina's best recipes, p. 89. New York: Britton Publishing Company
Breaded Veal Rounds and Thousand Island Dressing. In A Book of Famous Old New Orleans Recipes used in the South for more than 200 years, p. 21. Peerless Printing Company, New Orleans, 1900.
Stiles, Kaelyn; Altıok, Özlem; Bell, Michael M. (2010). The ghosts of taste: food and the cultural politics of authenticity. Agriculture and Human Values DOI: 10.1007/s10460-010-9265-y