Named after the place Jules-Joffrin, which honours Jules Joffrin (1846–1890).
A machinist and Communard, Joffrin spent eleven years in exile in England, then sat on the Paris city council. In the 1889 election in the 18th arrondissement General Boulanger won 2,000 more votes, but his election was annulled and Joffrin took the seat. Opened in 1858 as the place Sainte-Euphrasie, the square took his name on 29 July 1895.