Named after a house called Cairnburn, the family home of the family home of Lt.-Col. the Rt. Hon. Samuel Herbert Hall-Thompson (1885–1954), a prominent Northern Ireland politician.
The assistant City surveyor submitted an application from Mr WM McFarland for the naming of streets as follows: Cairnburn Park, Cairnburn Avenue, Cairnburn Gardens, Cairnburn Drive and Cairnburn Crescent on property situated Off Cairnburn Road and recommended that names be approved. The recommendation was adopted (5th August 1952).