Mount Tennent is named after a local bushranger, John Tennant1 who had a hideout on the slopes of the mountain in 1827. It had previously been named Mount Currie by Allan Cunningham after Captain Mark Currie, who led the first European expedition nearby (Fraser and McJannett) in 1823. Indigenous Australians refer to the mountain as Tharwa, also the name of the village at the northern foot of the mountain.