'Acton' means the farm by the oak trees.
The name comes from Old English āc, oak, and tūn, a farm or settlement. It is first recorded in 1181, borne by a witness called Viel of Acton. The main village was known as Church Acton or Acton Town, to tell it apart from the hamlet of East Acton. The station opened in 1879 as Mill Hill Park and was renamed Acton Town in 1910.