The name Ćićarija is derived from the South Slavic term Ćić, which refers to Istrians living north of the Učka Mountains, originally referring to the Vlachs and Istro-Romanians of the area. The ethnonym is believed to derive from the Istro-Romanian word ce 'what', which is a semantic basis for other regional ethnonyms (cf. Kajkavian, Chakavian, etc.).