The name is a tautology, consisting of the word "loch" (of Gaelic origin) and vatn, a Norse word meaning the very same, found in such names as "Þingvallavatn" and Myvatn in Iceland, and "Røssvatnet" and "Møsvatn" in Norway.
Þorgils gjallandi (2 June 1851 – 23 June 1915) was an Icelandic author born in the hamlet of Skútustaðir by Mývatn, a lake in the Skútustaðahreppur rural municipality.