All sources indicate that the first part of the town's name, Kafr, derives from the Syriac word for "farm" or "village". The second part has several possible meanings, including, the plural of the Syriac word Pehmi which means "rock", the Syriac word Buhum which means "strong man", Kafr Abu which means "large house" and the Arabic Ebham, which means "thumb". The latter name derives from a local legend which holds that a thumb of Saint George is buried in Kafr Buhum's Saint George Church.
