The site of the battle is named "Maserfelth" (with the variant spelling "Maserfeld") in the principal source for the battle, Bede's "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum". The second element of this name is the Old English word that became "field" in present-day English. The first element is debated: it has been taken as a possibly unique Old English attestation of the word "mazer"; a word having something to do with Welsh "maes" ('field'); or to be the Welsh female name "Meiser" (an argument supported by the place-name "Dyffryn Meiser" in "Canu Heledd").