The first element, "lis", derives from the Irish "lios", referring to a ringfort or enclosed settlement, the kind of circular earthwork that served as a farmstead during the early medieval period in Ireland. The second element, "tober", comes from "tobar", the Irish word for a well. A ringfort associated with a well is not unique in the Irish landscape, but the pairing is always worth noting; such sites often carried social and ritual significance well beyond their practical function, and many continued to draw local attention long after the enclosure itself fell out of use.

Beyond the place name itself, the documentary record for this particular site is thin. It is listed as a monument, which means it has been formally identified and assigned protected status, but the details of its form, condition, and history have not yet been made widely available. What the name alone suggests is a site with roots in early medieval rural life, when lios settlements dotted the Irish countryside in their tens of thousands, each one a family enclosure of earthen banks and ditches, sometimes accompanied by a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage used for storage or refuge. The presence of a well in the name hints at a water source that may have held practical importance for whoever lived here, and possibly a longer memory in the local landscape.