Barking was recorded as Berecingum in 735 and is probably named from the Saxon people the Bercia and the Old English place name word ending ing, literally 'the people who lived at'. Barking, we can deduce, means - 'the home of the Bercias'. The area was divided into various manors during the Middle Ages, one being Berengers, a variation on the original name. It is also possible that the name can be interpreted as 'the dwellers among the birch trees' and, maybe, this referred to the Bercias.

The station was opened as BARKING by the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway on 13 April 1854 and first used by Underground trains on 2 June 1902.