This river is said to be named for Charles Boyer, the North West Company trader. Sir Alexander Mackenzie in a letter dated Athabasca, 22 May, 1789, referred to him as "a very fit person for the Peace River." The river appears as Bouille River on the Arrowsmith map of 1854. Boyer sounds close to the infinitive form of the French verb meaning to boil, namely bouiller. It may be a reference to the nature of the river. Locally, the portion of the river between Paddle Prairie and the confluence of the Bushe River is called Paddle River, and it is referred to by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1890 as "Paddle or Boyer River."

Flows north-east into Peace River approximately 70 km east south-east of High Level.