The area of this suburb was first named "Buckland Downs" on a map of the Colony drawn in London in September 1832. This name is thought to have been bestowed by Governor Stirling to honour William Buckland, a noted geologist and later Dean of Westminster. The highest point in the district was named Buckland Hill, and this name was adopted for the locality. However, when a railway station was opened in 1895, it was named Cottesloe Beach and this name was also used for the locality. The Buckland Hill Road District was gazetted in 1899, was changed to Cottesloe Beach in 1909, Buckland Hill again in 1930, and then Mosman Park Road District in 1938. The suburb was officially named Mosman Park at a meeting of the Executive Council in 1937, the name being derived from the adjacent Mosman Bay on the river. The bay was named in 1907 when the Public Works Department constructed a jetty on the river here. It was named after Mosman in Sydney, the birthplace of R J Yeldon, a Road Board member 1901-05 and 1908-09.