A leacht, in Irish tradition, is a commemorative cairn or heap of stones, typically associated with a holy person or a place of localised veneration. The name Leacht Tomaltaigh links this particular structure to a figure called Tomaltach, though who exactly that person was, and what happened here to earn a permanent mark on the landscape, remains obscure to the wider world.

Tomaltach is an Old Irish personal name with some ecclesiastical currency. Several figures bearing the name appear in medieval Irish annals, including abbots and bishops connected to the west of Ireland. Whether the Tomaltach commemorated at Gorteen was a local saint, a cleric of regional importance, or someone remembered only in oral tradition is not currently established in the available record. What is clear is that the place retains its name, which is itself a form of continuity. Leachta of this kind were often used as stations on penitential or devotional routes, where pilgrims would pause, pray, and add a stone to the mound. The act of accumulation was the point; the cairn grew with each visit, each small stone a quiet transaction between the living and the memory of the dead.