TYB
The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Islands of the Dogs", a name that was evidently generalized from the ancient name of one of these islands, Canaria – presumably Gran Canaria. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the island Canaria contained "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size".[24]
Alternatively, it is said that the original inhabitants of the island, Guanches, used to worship dogs, mummified them and generally treated them as holy animals.[25][better source needed] Some hypothesize that the Canary Islands' dog-worship and the ancient Egyptian cult of the dog-headed god Anubis are closely connected.[26]
Other theories speculate that the name comes from the Nukkari Berber tribe living in the Moroccan Atlas, named in Roman sources as Canarii, though Pliny again mentions the relation of this term with dogs.[27]
The connection to dogs is retained in their depiction on the islands' coat-of-arms.
It is considered that the aborigines of Gran Canaria called themselves "Canarios".[28] It is possible that after being conquered, this name was used in plural in Spanish, i.e., as to refer to all of the islands as the Canarii-as.[28]
What is certain is that the name of the islands does not derive from the canary bird; rather, the birds are named after the islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Islands