'Wembley' means the clearing of a Saxon called Wemba.
It ends in Old English lea, a meadow or clearing, and was first mentioned in a charter of 825; the Plea Rolls give it as Wambeleye. The village grew up on the hill by the clearing, and much of the land around stayed wooded. The station was originally to be called East Lane, after the road over the railway, but opened in 1912 as North Wembley.