Named after Briarwood, christened for the brambles in its woods.
Herbert A. O'Brien's Briarwood Land Company built housing here from around 1905; the name refers to the brambles of its woods, and NYC Parks credits it to his wife, Adeline. The station opened in 1937 as Van Wyck Boulevard, after the road the Van Wyck Expressway was later built over, a name recalling Greater New York's first mayor. It became Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard in 1998 and Briarwood in 2015.