'Shoreditch' comes from Old English for a ditch by a bank or slope.
Place-name experts generally agree on scoradīc, ‘shore-ditch’, the shore being a riverbank or prominent slope, but not on which one is meant. Early spellings include Soresdic (1183–1184) and Sordig (1204). Folk etymology links the name to Jane Shore, mistress of Edward IV, but deeds from before 1260 already use it, long before she lived.