The trust is named after Katiti (), a natural spring located about south of Lake Amadeus. This spring was first written about by Baldwin Spencer and Francis James Gillen. They visited it in 1894 on their way to Uluṟu, and recorded the name "Kurtitina" (more accurately, "). The prospecting expedition led by Lawrence Wells visited the spring in 1903, and Herbert Basedow marked it on his maps as "Curtyteena".