Named after the porte de Bagnolet, the gate next to the town of Bagnolet.
Bagnolet comes from late Latin balneoletum, from balneolum, 'bath', recalling an old bathing establishment; the spelling Bagnolet already appears in documents of 1273 and 1276. Line 2 once had a station called Bagnolet: in September 1970 it was renamed Alexandre Dumas to avoid confusion with this station, then being built and closer to the town.