 The place had formerly been known as "Khirbet Jurfah", where archaeological finds point to a Jewish settlement dating back to the early Hellenistic period and early Roman period.The newly restructured Jewish National Fund, working in concert with Hitahdut HaIkarim, settled new immigrants on the site in 1958, giving to the place the name Roglit (), meaning "tiller [of the grapevine]".The new immigrants were initially employed as laborers for Jewish National Fund land reclamation.