Named after Kochstraße, and after Checkpoint Charlie, the border crossing nearby.
Kochstraße has been named since 1734 after Johann Jacob Koch, a baker and deputy mayor of Berlin who gave the land for the street to the city free of charge. Checkpoint Charlie, the Allied crossing to East Berlin from 1961 to 1990, stood nearby; 'Charlie' stands for the letter C. Until 1989 the station signs read 'Letzter Bahnhof in Berlin (West)' – the last station in West Berlin.