There are 2 explanations for its name whereby the first one is that it was named after one of the Eight Views of Omi 'Katata no rakugan' and the second one is that it was named after nanrakukan (dried sweets that existed during the Ming Dynasty era in China) with 'nan' being dropped.
名は近江八景の「堅田の落雁」に因んでつけられたという説と、中国の軟落甘の「軟」が欠落したという説とがある。