Named after the Russell family, the Dukes of Bedford.
The Russells gained Bloomsbury when William, Lord Russell, married the heiress Rachel Wriothesley, daughter of the 4th Earl of Southampton. In about 1800 Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford, demolished Bedford House and developed the land to the north with the square as its centrepiece; it was laid out in 1804. Much is still owned by the Bedford Estate in trust for the family.