Mizter T wrote:

Was the foot tunnel in operation at the time? If so then the station may
have been named to attract passengers who wanted to go to Greenwich (as I
said Ryanair were hardly the first to do this sort of thing - see also
Wanstead Park).

Good point, I hadn't though of it that way round.

Nor had I appreciated the absurdity behind the naming of Wanstead Park
station. A more honest station name would've been Wanstead Flats, but
it doesn't quite have the same ring to it!

"Forest Gate North" would frankly be the most accurate name. Wanstead Flats
is literally just over the Newham-Redbridge border and there is a very
noticable change of area as one walks there from the station. However I
suspect the fact that it's not a valid interchange with Forest Gate would
rule out FGN as a station name.

I've read a few old threads on uk.railway where absurd station names
were discussed. I do think it's fascinating (especially in urban areas
such as London) the way the railway's naming of stations can alter
popular understanding of the location of certain areas, the way the
railway utilised aspirational names for some stations, and even the way
places can take their name from pre-existing nearby stations (the names
of which might be somewhat misleading in the first place).

Oh definitely. Wikipedia editors once got in a mess trying to say where
Euston is - "Camden" may be the borough name but everyone thinks of Camden
Town, "St Pancras" is an old village name that everyone now uses for just
the railway station, "Bloomsbury" clearly stops at the other side of the
road and "Euston" is what a lot of people call the area but not much use
here given what they've taken the name from!

There are some people who think Wanstead Flats is actually called Wanstead
Park - and the signs there don't always correct them. I often used to call
various shop branches the "Tottenham Court Road branch" even though most
were on the other three roads that intersect at the crossroads the station
is on.

One of QMUL's halls of residence is located behind Stepney Green tube
station but I suspect very few who've ever stayed there realise that the
green stretch in front of them is not Stepney Green, which is a short walk
the other side of the Whitechapel (or is it Mile End) road.

Shoreditch is one of the more interesting points of confusion, not least
because the (now closed) tube station was never in the old Metropolitan
Borough of Shoreditch. Through in some Hackney council maps that
inaccurately don't claim the church with "the bells of Shoreditch" (I forget
the church name) and five separate post codes converging on the area and one
is left totally confused as to where it is.

Mercifully I've yet to hear someone call an area "City Thameslink".