Known in Irish as Uamhain Ghrióra, a name recorded by Tim Robinson in 1980, it is the kind of place that sits at the edge of the documentary record, more legend than archive, more atmosphere than monument.

The cave's association is with St Gregory, who according to local tradition is said to have lived within it. The practice of holy men and hermits taking up residence in natural caves was not uncommon in early Irish Christianity; such figures sought out remote or physically demanding conditions as a form of spiritual discipline, and the landscape of the west of Ireland offered no shortage of suitable retreats. The Irish form of the name, Uamhain Ghrióra, translates roughly as Gregory's Cave, preserving the saint's identity directly in the placename in the way that so many early ecclesiastical sites do across Ireland. The nearby townland name, Ceathrú An Teampaill, meaning the quarter of the church, suggests this corner of Galway may once have held a cluster of religious significance, though the physical evidence of any such settlement has not been recorded alongside the cave itself.