Named after Seventh Avenue, where it crosses 53rd Street.
Seventh Avenue was laid out in the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811. In the Garment District it is co-named Fashion Avenue, first signposted in 1972; north of Central Park it was renamed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in 1974, in honour of the congressman. Some trains announce this station as Seventh Avenue–53rd Street, partly to avoid confusion with Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn.