Named after Glantrasna, a glen and townland on the Beara peninsula, Co. Kerry. Glantrasna Drive is part of a group of streets off Antrim Road with names beginning in Glan-. See also Glandore Avenue / Drive / Gardens / Parade, Glanleam Drive, Glantane 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 Glantane or Glanleam?] and Glantrasna Street.
"Submitted application from Messrs. McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd., to have the name for street off Glandore Avenue changed from Glantrasna Street to Glantrasna Drive. Resolved – That the application be acceded to". (5th October 1926)