There are various theories on the origin of Pity Me's unusual name. Most likely, as speculated in the "Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names", it is simply "a whimsical name bestowed in the 19th century on a place considered desolate, exposed or difficult to cultivate". Alternatively it may be a shortened form of an earlier place name referring to a shallow lake or mere, such as "Petit Mere" (i.e. from Norman French), "Petty Mere" or "Peaty Mere". Related theories suggest that it comes from "Pithead Mere", referring to an extended area of boggy waste ground onto which the outwash from minehead pumping engines was discharged, or that "petite mer" () is an ironic name for the settlement given the arid nature of the land.