The streets in Anula are named after early NT Mines and mineral fields.

During World War II, in 1945, the No.1 Canadian Special Wireless Group was located in the present day suburb.

The suburb is named after the Anula group of the Yanyuwa nation who live around the Borroloola – McArthur River – Seven Emus area on the coastline of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

When the area was designed in 1966, the linguists' spelling was that listed, but variant uses of the name were Yanyula and Janjula.

Yanyula Drive perpetuates one variant name for the tribe group, but the whole suburb enshrines Anula as the adopted name in the 1960s, gazetted finally as a suburb in 1984.