Contemporary Australian linguists believe the name "Noarlunga" is derived from the Kaurna nurlo (corner/curve/bend) + ngga (place).

[4] The Australasian Biospecimen Network Association (ABNA) records Noarlunga as meaning "fishing place", as suggested by various early South Australian historians and repeated by some official sources, such as the City of Onkaparinga[5] and the state government land titles office.

The two seaside township councils governed the northern coastal tip of the hundred until 1997 when they merged to form the City of Holdfast Bay.

Seated at Morphett Vale it initially the coastal strip between the southern boundary of Marion council and the Onkaparinga River.

In 1997 the Noarlunga council was amalgamated with Happy Valley and Willunga to form the City of Onkaparinga, uniting most of the south and east of the hundred under one local government.