Named after Atlantic Avenue and the Barclays Center arena next door.
In 2009 the bank Barclays, which also held the arena’s naming rights, bought the station’s name for 20 years at $200,000 a year; it became Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center in May 2012. Atlantic Avenue began in the 1700s as a path to Ralph Patchen’s farm on the East River waterfront. By 1816 it was District Street, by 1855 Atlantic Street, and around 1870 Atlantic Avenue.