The name Maladeta comes from the Spanish montes malditos, which means Damned Mountains. According to some authorities the local name for the massif was Mala hita (bad rocks or bad upper regions). When French travellers came to the region they translated the name into the French as Maladette, on the basis that it was cognate with the Italian term Maladetta (feminine for damned). Subsequently, the mountain became known as Maladeta, a term that encompasses the entire massif.