The neighborhood, creek, and park all take their name from the cove, itself named by one Lt. George Davidson of the U. S. Coast Survey in 1857 in honor of the family of his fiancée, Ellinor Fauntleroy of Indiana.
Fauntleroy's history was chronicled by Roy Morse and Richard Brown in Fauntleroy Legacy (1989) and by Clay Eals in West Side Story (West Seattle Herald, 1987).
Central to the Fauntleroy neighborhood are Fauntleroy Church (United Church of Christ), Fauntleroy YMCA, and the closed Fauntleroy School, which now houses Fauntleroy Children's Center (childcare); a caterer, rental auditorium and meeting rooms; and several other business tenants.
An all-volunteer, community-based organization (Fauntleroy Community Association) founded in the early 1980s brings neighbors together to address local issues such as environmental quality, traffic and parking.