Named after the manufacture des Gobelins, the tapestry works named after a family of dyers.
Around the middle of the 15th century Jehan Gobelin, a dyer known for his scarlet reds, set up a workshop by the river Bièvre; his family never made tapestry. From the 16th century the river and the quarter bore their name. In 1662 Colbert bought the hôtel des Gobelins and gathered the Paris tapestry workshops there.