"(H)ambretone", a place-name reflected now in both Kirk Hammerton ("Hammerton with the church", from the Old Norse "kirkja" = "church") and Green Hammerton ("Hammerton with the green", from Middle English "grene"), is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086.The name seems to derive from the Old English plant-name "hamor" (whose meaning is not certain but might include hammer-sedge or pellitory of the wall) + "tūn" 'settlement, farm, estate'.