Originally called Nolletquesset by the Lenni Lenape Indians, the name Shark River appears on the 1686 John Reid manuscript map of East Jersey which is the earliest existing detailed map of Monmouth County.

The area commonly referred to as the Shark River (not the inlet with its bulkhead) is actually a small bay of approximately eight hundred acres which includes the confluence of four fresh water streams, adjacent mud flats, salt marshes, the open water, and the inlet which connects the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.

The term "river" generally refers to an aquatic entity that sustains a substantial amount of moving fresh water.

[3] The river (or stream) travels through sediments deposited during the Late Eocene and Middle Miocene periods.

Fossils of reptiles, mammals and shark teeth and other fish remains can be found along its banks.