Named after the towns of Malakoff and Vanves and the Plateau de Vanves quarter.
The station, planned as Vanves, sits on the border of the two towns. Malakoff, part of Vanves until 1883, is named after the Malakoff tower at Sevastopol, taken by the French in 1855 in the Crimean War. Locally, the name is traced either to a cabaret sign of 1855 or to a plaster replica of the tower in a theme park.