'Anerley' comes from a Scots word meaning 'solitary' or 'only'.
In 1827 William Sanderson, a Scottish silk and wine merchant from Galashiels, bought land on the former Penge Common and built the first house there, which he named Anerly. The road, and then the area, took its name. He made land available for a station, opened in 1839 as Anerley Bridge; local lore has him say: 'Mine is the annerly hoose'.