During the Qing Dynasty, the mountain was known to Westerners as Mount Sylvia. It was also known as Shan-chas-shan (properly, Sānchāshān) from a Chinese name meaning 3-Forked or 3-Prong Mountain. During Japan's occupation of Taiwan, improved surveys showed that Xueshan was shorter than Yushan on Taiwan but taller than Mount Fuji in the Japanese Islands. Its name was accordingly changed to Tsugitakayama(次高山), meaning Next- or Second-Highest Mountain, in 1923.