Nether Heyford takes its name from either the Old English word "heg/hedge", meaning "the ford by the hedge", or from "haeg/hage", meaning "the ford over which the hay is carried". In 1086, in the Domesday Book, the name is recorded as "Heiforde". The Post Office once called the village Lower Heyford, but the name was restored to Nether Heyford after reference to it in local deeds. The village is on the flood plain of the River Nene and used to be subjected to flooding, as Watery Lane suggests.