The range was named by Colonel William Light in 1837 after Barrosa Hill (Cerro de Puerco) in the modern municipality of Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain, to which it he thought it similar. The Spanish location was the site of the Battle of Barrosa and was won by Light's friend Lord Lynedoch in 1811. The word "barrosa" in Spanish and Portuguese languages simply means "muddy". Thus named, the Barossa Range was the source of many other local place names, such as the Hundred of Barossa and better-known Barossa Valley.