‘Südkreuz’ means ‘south cross’: here the Ring crosses the lines to the south.
Until 2006 the station was called Papestraße, after General-Pape-Straße, named for the Prussian general Alexander von Pape (1813–1895). Under the ‘Pilzkonzept’ (mushroom concept) for Berlin’s railways after the fall of the Wall – named after the mushroom shape of the main lines on the map – it was rebuilt as a main-line station from 2003 and named Südkreuz when it went into service on 27 May 2006.