This peak was originally named "Mount Grady" by the 1889-90 Seattle Press Expedition to honor Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, and the expedition applied the Mount Lawson toponym to the 4,810-foot peak which is 1.4 miles (2.3 km) southwest.

[5][6] The mountain's toponym honors Victor Lawson (1850–1925), the publisher of the Chicago Daily News and president of the Associated Press from 1894 through 1900.

[1][6] The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names.

As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks of the Olympic Range, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall (Orographic lift).

[8] The mountains were sculpted during the Pleistocene era by erosion and glaciers advancing and retreating multiple times.