The name apparently comes from the Lord Nelson pub that was built after the opening of a number of pits in the area. The pub was named after Lord Nelson himself visited the area in 1803, two years before the famous Battle of Trafalgar. The Welsh name on the village Ffos y Gerddinen (ffos+y+cerddinen) is not in common usage by today; "ffos" can mean a ditch or a moat and the word "cerddinen" means a mountain ash tree, common to the area and giving its name in English to the nearby village of Mountain Ash in the Cynon Valley.
