when seen from the east. The guidebook author Alfred Wainwright popularised using the older Cumbric name, which is now used almost exclusively. Ordnance Survey currently marks the summit as 'Saddleback or Blencathra'.

The name Blencathra is likely derived from the Cumbric elements *blain 'top, summit' and cadeir 'seat, chair', meaning 'the summit of the seat'. Andrew Breeze has proposed an