Back in the day when the French and English arrived in Canada, the French called the cliffs, Les grands Ecores, or “tall points on the shore”. In 1793, they were known as the Scarborough Highlands, named after Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
Elizabeth Simcoe, the wife of John Graves Simcoe (the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada), chose the name because it reminded her of the cliffs in her hometown. Over time, the cliffs simply became known as The Bluffs, or the Scarborough Bluffs.