Named after the town of Créteil and the prefecture of the Val-de-Marne département.
A decree of 1965 made Créteil the chief town of the new Val-de-Marne, which came into being on 1 January 1968; the prefecture building, about 750 metres from the station, opened in November 1970. Its subtitle is Hôtel de Ville, although the town hall is more than 600 metres away, across the Créteil Soleil shopping centre.