Named after John and James Lorimer Graham, Brooklyn land speculators of 1836.
Graham Avenue and nearby Lorimer Street were both named for John and James Lorimer Graham, described as 'land jobbers' of 1836. The avenue was opened in 1851 from Broadway to the Greenpoint line. From Flushing Avenue north to Metropolitan Avenue it is also signed Avenue of Puerto Rico; another part is subtitled Via Vespucci, after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512).