At its south end are hills called the 'Müggelberge', which are 115 metres (377 ft) high; they were formed during the Pleistocene[1] (as a kettle hole, remaining at Weichselian glaciation).

On the so-called 'Kleiner Müggelberg', the much-visited and popular 'Müggelturm' (a tower) was built, the first one in 1889 (destroyed in a fire in 1958), and the current one in 1960/61.

[2][3] The River Spree flows into the lake via the smaller Kleiner Müggelsee, which is only 0.16 square kilometres (0.062 sq mi) in area.

A pre-Slavonic, Germanic origin from a Proto-Indo-European root is more probable: migh-, mighla = "fog, cloud": compare Dutch miggelen = "drizzle" belongs.

Analyses say that the word component "heim" in the name was brought around 1750 by settlers from the Palatinate from their homeland Odernheim, according to Schlimpert.