Named after the Tufnell family, lords of the manor of Barnsbury.
In 1753 William Tufnell was granted the manor by his father-in-law, Sir William Halton. He was granted leases to build on the estate but never used them; serious building began in 1845, under Henry Tufnell, an MP. The heiress Mary Carleton, who married a later William Tufnell in 1804, is recalled in two local street names.