Named after the rue Pelleport, which honours General Pierre de Pelleport (1773–1855).
A general of the Empire, he was wounded at the Buttes-Chaumont on 30 March 1814 while defending Paris. The street, an old road linking Charonne and Belleville, was called rue de Belleville in Charonne and rue de Charonne in Belleville before both villages joined Paris in 1860; it got its present name by decree of 10 August 1868.