Pangil was founded in 1579 by two Franciscan missionaries. The town's name is believed to have come from three coincidental circumstances: one historical version was that it was named after the fang of a wild boar called "Pangil" in the vernacular; another version accounts to the first native inhabitants of the place called "Pangilagan"; and the third version relates about the place being once dominated by the first pre-Spanish chieftain named Gat Pangil.