The Chinese transliteration of the Chola Mountains is Que Er Shan (). The Chola Mountains are named after the primary pass crossing the range, Cho La or Tro La. Cho La in Tibetan means Lake Pass. However, others claim, Chola is just another name for snow mountain, given by local Tibetans. Due to the Chinese transliteration of the mountains into Què'ér and its common usage on official maps, the mountain range is sometimes mistakenly translated into Sparrow Mountains or Bird Mountains.