 Towns along the Rába include Gleisdorf, Feldbach (both in Austria), and Szentgotthárd and Körmend (in Hungary).In the early Cenozoic the river used to flow in the opposite direction, but tectonic uplift reversed this flow.The Rába was attested as Latin "Arrabo" and Greek "Arabon" () in antiquity, as "Raba" and "Hrapa" in AD 791, and as "ad Rapam" in 890.