 Appearing in historical records as "Cartusegrenden" in 1518, "norra cartuse grenden" in 1526, "chartuser gränden" in 1625, "Norra Dryks gr"["änd"] in 1733 and "Dryks-Gränden" in 1740, its original name is derived from the Carthusian Order which owned a building in the alley.While this order, founded in the French valley of Chartreuse in 1084 and introduced to Sweden by a royal land donation at Gripsholm in 1490, is known as one of the strictest of the Catholic Church, it was however thrown out of the kingdom by King Gustav Vasa in the 1520s together with many other abbeys.It is since mostly remembered for the liqueur, Chartreuse, produced by the monks in France.