'Barnet' means the land cleared by burning, from Old English bærnet.
Recorded as Barneto in about 1070 and Barnet in 1197, it recalls the clearing of land once densely forested. The town is also Chipping Barnet, 'chipping' denoting the market chartered by King John in 1199. 'High Barnet', for its elevated position, was the name the Great Northern Railway chose for the station it opened in 1872, on the old site of the Barnet Fair.