There is some disagreement over the spelling of the village: the alternative is "Kirbymoorside", which is how the railway companies spelt the name on the station, as how it is traditionally pronounced). Signposts read "Kirkbymoorside". "Kirk" means church and "-by" is the Viking word for settlement, so that the name translates as "settlement with a church by the moorside", or as Ekwall argues, Moorside is "Moresheved" which means "top of the moor". A valley near the town is known as Kirkdale. More recently, Kirkbymoorside was the last town in England to adopt double yellow lines to restrict parking.