The mountain may have been named by New Mexicans after an ancient pueblo, or Tenabo may be a Paiute word, meaning of "dark colored water".

To the west is the Smoky Valley, Mount Hope, Bunker Hill, and other peaks of the Toiyabe Range.

[5] Mount Tenabo, east of and near the north end of the Toiyabe Range, is about 30 miles (48 km) south of Beowawe.

[5] In 2008, the Te-Moak tribe, the Timbisha tribe and others sought an emergency injunction that would have halted further development of Barrick Gold's Cortez Hills mining operation which includes facilities on the slopes of Mount Tenabo.

As of July 2016, mining continues while the BLM prepares a court-ordered supplemental environmental impact statement.