‘Hauptbahnhof’ means main station; the name replaced the traditional Lehrter Bahnhof.
The new station stands where the Lehrter Bahnhof, terminus of the line to Lehrte opened in 1871, and later the Lehrter Stadtbahnhof stood. In a 2002 poll, 70 percent of 7,860 voters wanted to keep the name Lehrter Bahnhof, but Deutsche Bahn and the Berlin government chose the double name Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Lehrter Bahnhof. Since the opening in 2006 it has been just Berlin Hauptbahnhof.