The name recalls the Anhalter Bahnhof, once one of Berlin’s most important terminals.
The terminus was built in front of the Anhalter Tor (Anhalt Gate) as the end of the Berlin-Anhalt Railway, opened in 1841, which linked Berlin with Anhalt. Long-distance trains stopped running in 1952, and despite strong protests the building was demolished in 1959–1961. A fragment of its portico still stands; the underground S-Bahn station keeps the name.