There is no document found to support how Guinobatan got its name. Analyzing the word, its root word "Gubat" has a substantive form in Bicol idiom meaning barren and uncultivated. When used as a verb, it connotes grave physical encounter. These physical encounters emanated from the moros who frequently plundered the town of Guinobatan. When the native could no longer withstand those attacks, they organized resistance against these moros. Hence, the name "Guinobatan" was given due to the armed clashes between the native and the moros that often occurred plus the actual physical condition of the settlement.

   In 1578, the Franciscan missionaries of Camalig came to evangelize Guinobatan, then considered a barangay of Camalig, populated by indigenous tribes inhabiting the Albay Gulf. Upon acceptance and recognition of Christianity by the native, the missionaries gathered the converts in Binanuaan, a place located between Mabalod and Tandarora. From 1672 to 1678, the settlement expanded to a greater number and was designated as Christianity Station of the sector known as the Mayon District.

   Meanwhile, Mauraro, a distant settlement with a population 217 persons was also considered a temporary religious station as reported by Don Sinibaldo de Mass in 1843. During these years, the civil government was under the reign of the tenientes and the chief was Don Francisco Bagamasbad, considered to be the founder of Guinobatan. Together with other Dons, they initiated a petition to the Governor-General through the Franciscan Missionaries requesting that the settlement be declared an independent town. The request was granted ten years after it's filing (1680), through a decree making Guinobatan an independent town.

   Before 1963, the territorial boundaries of Guinobatan extended as far as the southern coast of the Province of Albay, with Malacbalac (now Pioduran) as its most progressive barangay as its outlet to the sea. With the enactment of R.A. 3617 on June 22, 1963 of the defunct Philippine Congress creating the municipality of Pioduran; Malacbalac as its seat of government together with the barangays of Malidong, Basicao, Malapay, Nablangbulod, Buyo, Rawis, Mamlad, Oringon, Cagbatano, Nacasitas, Sukip and Tibabo of the municipality of Guinobatan were separated and constituted a part of the newly created municipality of Pioduran. This separation not only decreased the number of barangays to 43 but was also economically felt by the municipal treasury of Guinobatan, since Malacbalac has a great bulk of share in the town's income being a fishing village and a center part of the coastal province of Masbate and a portion of Sorsogon.

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