'Woodford' means the ford in or by the wood.
The ford carried a minor Roman road from London across the River Roding. The name is recorded as Wudeford in 1062 and as Wdefort in the Domesday Book of 1086. The station opened in 1856 as George Lane, the road where it stands; it became South Woodford (George Lane) in 1937 and plain South Woodford in 1947.