The old station name derived from Saga Station (operated by then Kyoto Railway, later Japanese National Railways and the current West Japan Railway Company), which came into operation in 1897 and is located nearby, but even after Saga Station was renamed Saga-Arashiyama Station in 1994, the old name used by JR West remained as a portion of the old name of this station.
旧駅名は、1897年開業の嵯峨駅（京都鉄道→日本国有鉄道→西日本旅客鉄道）の近隣にあることから付けられた駅名であるが、その嵯峨駅が1994年に嵯峨嵐山駅に改称したため、JR西日本の旧駅名が当駅の旧駅名の一部分として残った形になっていた。