'Perivale' probably means the valley of pear trees.
The name was first used in 1508, spelt Pyryvale, and seems to combine perie, pear tree, and vale. Before that the parish was often called Little Greenford or Greenford Parva, to tell it apart from Great Greenford – and Perivale could also be a corruption of Parva. The station opened in 1904 as Perivale Halt and joined the Central line in 1947.