Named after John H. Sutphin, a Jamaica banker and politician.
John H. Sutphin (1835–1907), of Dutch descent, was a banker active in politics: justice of the peace for the old Town of Jamaica, chairman of the Queens County Democratic Committee and ten-term Queens county clerk. He donated land near the planned Long Island Rail Road station in Jamaica, hence the boulevard bearing his name. The surname comes from the Dutch city of Zutphen.