Rodden (or roddin, roddan) is a Scots and Ulster-Scots word meaning a narrow track or path. According to the Dictionary of the Scots Language, it can specifically refer to a track trodden out by sheep or to any private unmetalled track or rough road. It is, in essence, a dialect form of Eng. road + ing. Its use in Ulster-Scots is confirmed by place-names such as The Tod's Roddan (meaning 'the fox's track'), a cliff-top path above the Gobbins in Co. Antrim.
The use of this word in the three street names Roddens Crescent / Gardens / Park in this part of East Belfast is probably explained by a connection with the Blakiston-Houston family. They lived at Orangefield nearby in the 19th century, but this was not their only residence. They also owned Roddans House in the townland of Roddans (sometimes spelt Roddens) near Ballywalter. M Blakiston Houston is recorded as the landlord of Roddans townland in Griffith's Valuation (1864).