According to Irish academic Paul Tempan, the historian Eoin MacNeill, writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (JRSAI), thought that the Irish name Drobeóil, as listed in the Metrical Dinsenchas, had survived the mountain name Gravale. Tempan also notes that historical maps of the estates in which Gravale lies suggest that the col between Gravale and Duff Hill was known as Lavarna or Lavarnia, from the Irish Leath-Bhearna, meaning half-gap, and that this was likely a difficult trail from the Blessington lakes area to Lough Dan.