The Alborz mountain range stretches from the border of Azerbaijan through the entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea down to the region of Khorasan. The highest mountain in Iran, Mount Damavand, is also located in the central Alborz Mountains.

The name Alborz is derived from that of Harā Barazaitī, a legendary mountain in the Avesta, the main text of Zoroastrianism. Harā Barazaitī reflects Proto-Iranian *Harā Bṛzatī. *Bṛzatī is the feminine form of the adjective *bṛzant- "high", the ancestor of modern Persian boland (بلند) and Barz/Berazandeh, cognate with Sanskrit Brihat (बृहत्). Harā may be interpreted as "watch" or "guard", from an Indo-European root *ser- "protect". In Middle Persian, Harā Barazaitī became Harborz, Modern Persian Alborz, which is a cognate with Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus.