The origin and importance of the name Prespa remains unknown.  According to one version, this word was Slavic and meant a bank of packed snow (N. Moutsopoulou.) According to another belief, once near the lakes or on a small island there was a city with the name Prespa. (S. Pelekanidis.)

We come across the word Prespa, for the first time at the end of the 10th century A.D. which characterized the whole lake area and not just a particular settlement.

The most widely held belief concerning the origin of the name refers to the fact that the word Prespa comes from the latin “praespe” which means “manger”, a point of view which is justified by the morphology of the area.