Which London railway station gives Paddington Bear his name?

Paddington Bear is named after Paddington Station in London.

In Michael Bond’s first story, a family finds the small bear sitting near the station with a label asking someone to look after him. The Browns take him home, and he becomes Paddington Brown. The station therefore supplies both the character’s familiar name and the opening setting of his British life.

Paddington station is a major railway terminus in west London. It opened in the nineteenth century and became closely associated with services to the west of England and Wales. The fictional bear’s arrival at the station helped make the place part of his identity rather than merely a backdrop.

Readers sometimes assume Paddington is named after a town in Peru, but the name comes from London. His Peruvian origin and London name are two separate parts of the character’s backstory.