Court Square is named after the Queens County courthouse in Long Island City.
In 1870 the state legislature authorised moving the Queens County seat to Long Island City, where a courthouse was built in 1872–1876. A local law of 10 August 1938 named part of the land in front of it Court Square. 23rd Street was called Ely Avenue until 1915, when many Queens streets were given numbers; the station kept the name 23rd Street–Ely Avenue until 2011.