The Cliftonville Road area originally was to be named as “Cliftonville Garden Village“. According to Carson, the architect Thomas Jackson is reported to be have been so impressed by the residential area of Bristol called Clifton, that he decided to introduce the name to Belfast. In the Belfast Street Directory of 1839 there is an entry that says: “William Herdman, Esq residence, Cliftonville”.
Cliftonville Street was mentioned in The Belfast News-Letter in 1857. See Cliftonville Road for further details of this name.