Many of the station names in the central part of Kyoto City are given under the following system: give 'a name of a street running north-south' to a station on the line running east-west that crosses the street or give 'a name of a street running east-west' to a station on the line running north-south (e.g., Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line) that crosses the street; accordingly, the station was temporarily named after 'Tenjingawa-dori' (which is the name of a street running near the station) before the station name 'Uzumasa-tenjingawa' was finally selected by taking into account a request by local people.
京都市中心部の多くの駅は、東西方向に走る路線は「交叉する南北の街路名」から、南北方向に走る路線（京都市営地下鉄烏丸線など）は「交叉する東西方向の街路名」から駅名をとっており、当駅の仮称も駅付近を走っている道路名の「天神川通」からとられていたが、地元要望にも配慮して最終決定された。