Named after the Moorgate, a gate in the City wall that led to Moorfields.
The gate, the last of the City's northern gates to be built, took its name from Moorfields, marshy land just north of the wall – possibly made marshy by the wall itself, which held back the River Walbrook. It was demolished in 1761–62 but gave its name to the street. The station opened in 1865 as Moorgate Street and became Moorgate in 1924.