Long before Han Chinese arrived, Peitou had an aura of mystery about it, shadowy and wreathed in mist. For this reason the Aboriginal Ketagalan people living nearby named it "shamaness," which in their language sounds similar to the Taiwanese pronunciation of the characters for "peitou."
其實，早於漢人進入之前，籠罩在一片煙霧飄渺中的北投，充滿神秘感，因而被居住在附近的凱達格蘭族人稱為「女巫之地」，之後因為音似台語的「北投」而得名。