Named after Rockefeller Center, the complex commissioned by the Rockefeller family.
During planning the project was often called ‘Radio City’, ‘Rockefeller City’ or ‘Metropolitan Square’. Ivy Lee, the Rockefeller family’s publicity adviser, suggested ‘Rockefeller Center’. John D. Rockefeller Jr. at first did not want the family name on a commercial project, but was persuaded that it would attract far more tenants. The name was formally changed in December 1931; construction started that year.