In 1885, Hermann Vogt described the street as "created during the establishment of Friedrichstadt, it received its name from the "Mohren" that Fredrick William I received from the Dutch and quartered in this street, so they could be posted from here to the individual regiments as Janissaries." Fredrick William I ascended to the throne in 1713 and is documented as having planned the "acquisition of 150 "Mohren"" in 1714, which dates this theory to no earlier than around 1715. This explanation is an anachronism; the street had already been named in 1707.