Oakthorpe, historically belonging to the Repton and Gresley Hundred of Derbyshire, probably comes from the Old Norse male personal name Áki (genitive singular Áka) and the Old Norse element þorp ‘outlying farm, settlement’.
Alternatively the first element of the place-name could be Old English ac ‘oak tree’; however, it is more likely that the Old Norse personal name became confused with this Old English appellative.
Oakthorpe is a joint parish with Donisthorpe and they were both transferred to Leicestershire in 1897.
