The municipality of Le Lavandou was founded around a hamlet of fishermen's houses clustered around the current Gabriel Péri quay. Today an islet in the heart of the historic village of yesteryear, Le Lavandou already appeared under this name in 1674 in the departmental archives of Draguignan. The town would take its name from the presence of a wash house, lavadou or lavandou in Provençal, where the fishermen's wives washed their clothes on large flat stones. Its presence is attested by a painting by Charles Ginoux exhibited in the town hall, representing the hamlet of Le Lavandou in 1736.