The bay was named after the original village of Dalgety, but the ruins of the 12th century St Bridget's Kirk are all that now mark the site. The new town, of which building started in 1965, takes its name from the main bay it adjoins, but the town stretches over many bays and coves including Donibristle Bay and St David's Bay. The root of the place-name Dalgety is the Scottish Gaelic word "dealg", 'thorn', and the full name originally meant 'the place of the thorn[-bushes]'.