Named after the town of Erkner, whose name comes from a stream.
The water flowing through the town was first recorded in 1579 as Arckenow. The word contains ‘Arche’, a channel linking two larger waters – here the Flakensee and the Dämeritzsee. The name spread to both banks: the forest became the Erknersche Heide and the fishing settlement ‘Der Erkner’. The stream is now called Flakenfließ. The station opened in 1842.