Big Ben is a bell in the clock tower in London. Name. There are two versions of the origin of the name of the tower. The first version says that Big Ben was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who ran the casting of the bell. Another says that the heariest bell at the moment (13.7 tonns) got its name after Benjamin County, a very famous boxer in the heavyweight division at the time. Construction. The tower was built on the design of English architect Augustus Pugin in 1858.