Named after the porte d'Orléans, where the road from Orléans has always arrived.
In the Middle Ages this road mattered greatly, since Paris and Orléans were the two main towns of the royal domain; it later became the N20 to the Spanish border. The station's subtitle, Général Leclerc, comes from the avenue above it. Units of Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division entered Paris through this gate on 24 and 25 August 1944.