Named after the François Mitterrand site of the French national library.
President François Mitterrand (1916–1996) announced the new library on 14 July 1988; the site's official name was given at the request of President Jacques Chirac, though until at least 1999 some still called it the Très Grande Bibliothèque. The station was planned as Tolbiac – Masséna, after two nearby streets, and opened in 1998 as the terminus of line 14.