Winthrop House is named for two John Winthrops. The first John Winthrop came to America in 1630 and served as the leader of the Massachusetts Bay Company and the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for 16 years. The second John Winthrop (AB 1732), a descendant of Governor Winthrop, was the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and was highly regarded as the first American astronomer also serving as President of Harvard in 1773.
The House crest is the Winthrop family coat of arms – a lion on a shield with three chevrons in the background. Appropriately, the House mascot is a lion.