Named after Putney Bridge, the crossing to Putney on the other bank.
'Putney' comes from the Anglo-Saxon Puttan hythe, Putta's landing place; the Domesday Book of 1086 wrote Putelei, probably a scribes' mistake. The first bridge, of 1729, was commonly called Fulham Bridge. The station is in fact on the Fulham side: it opened in 1880 as Putney Bridge & Fulham, became Putney Bridge & Hurlingham in 1902 and took its present name in 1932.