Der Vermesser John Turnbull Thomson gab wegen einer Kurve des Oreti River dem Ort den Namen "Elbow", später wurde er nach dem Bürgermeister von Invercargill George Lumsden (1815–1904) umbenannt. ###>When this name was given to the then new railway station, residents of Castlerock, then also known as The Elbow and on the opposite bank of the Oreti River, brought the matter to George Lumsden of the Otago Provincial Council.