Named after Glanleam, a townland on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry. Glanleam Drive is part of a group of streets off Antrim Road with names beginning in Glan-. See also Glandore Avenue / Drive / Gardens / Parade, Glantane Drive, Glantrasna Drive and Glanworth Drive / Gardens. All of these are place-names in the province of Munster, but beyond this they have little in common. Glan- is usually an anglicisation of the Irish word gleann, 'valley'.
The minutes of the Town Improvement Committee of Belfast Corporation on 24 October 1894 indicate the naming of three new streets off Antrim Road and Skegoniel Avenue: Glandore Avenue, Glandean Street [recte Glanleam?] and Glanstrasna Street.
"Submitted application dated 4th inst., from Messrs A.E. Savage & Co., Donegall Street, to have the name of Glanleam Street changed to Glanleam Drive". (14th August 1923).