The name "Benwell" is first recorded in the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto circa A.D.1050 as Bynnewalle, making one of the few names in Northumberland recorded before the Conquest.

Ekwall (Dictionary of English Place-names, 1936, 1960) gives the derivation from Old English binnan wealle - 'behind or within the Wall'. The oldest known settlement is in relation to the Roman fort of Condercum. Some disturbed archaeological finds near the fort suggest an early Anglo-Saxon presence here. However the village of Benwell as it existed in feudal times was located at some distance to the west, lying to the west of Benwell Tower (the BBC's Byker Grove). To confuse the issue, in the grounds of the tower is a pond which is called "Ben's Well" which was probably a Victorian (or earlier) joke.

binne is the Old English preposition 'behind', referring to relative position.

wealle, wall is the Old English word for a wall, in this case The Wall built by the Romans.