The lake is named after the explorer Richard Maurice. Maurice went on at least eight expeditions to the Great Victoria Desert between 1897 and 1903. He was not the first European to pass through this region: Ernest Giles and his team had explored the area almost 20 years before. Giles saw the lake in 1875, but he did not give it a name. He described the area as barren, and wrote that he and his team found no game between Lake Maurice and the Western Australian border. Maurice, in his own expeditions, recorded information and collected specimens on the plants, animals and geology of the area. In 1904, a mining surveyor named Frank George led a prospecting expedition through this region. He used Maurice's camels and equipment and travelled northwest of Lake Dey Dey and across the border to the salt lakes in Western Australia. George named Lake Maurice, and he reported that the area was not likely to contain anything suitable for mining.