Named after Leyton, the settlement on the River Lea, and Midland Road.
Leyton means the settlement (tūn) on the Lea; the Domesday Book of 1086 has Leituna or Leintuna, and until 1921 it was also known as Low Leyton. The station opened in 1894 as plain Leyton, on a line built jointly by the Midland Railway and the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. It was renamed Leyton Midland Road in 1949.