Named after 68th Street and Hunter College, which honours its founder, Thomas Hunter.
Thomas Hunter, from Ardglass in County Down, Ireland, an exile over his nationalist beliefs, founded the college in 1870 as a women’s college. In 1873 it moved to Park Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets, and in 1914 it was renamed Hunter College in honour of its first president. In 1917, at the college’s request, the station under construction was renamed 68th Street–Hunter College.