Greensted's full name is Greensted-juxta-Ongar (Greensted adjoining Ongar) but this title is considered archaic now, and the settlement is known locally by its primary title. Greensted means green place, "sted" being in the Anglo-Saxon language, the old word for place (and is still used in modern English words e.g. 'instead', 'steadfast'). Greensted is also both a current English and, as Grønstad, Danish surname. The area of England where Greensted is located is at the edge of the area once known as the Danelaw.