The origin of the name Velas has never been clarified by the historians. However, according to these same historians, we can refer to the “sails” of vessels, for watchmen or for the term velar, for the names of settlements with the same name in the Portuguese continent, for the term “old” or even for the word “beautiful”.
It is, however, more likely that the name comes from the terms “ship’s sails”, or the terms velar / wake. Taking into account the vessels used at the time of its foundation and the other, taking into account the telluric forces that move in these islands and that often forced the populations to stay vigil or during the volcanic crises to give the alert in in case of need.
Source: pt.wikipedia.org
