Named after a house which existed at least as early as 1805. The land was leased by the Marquess of Donegall to his brother-in-law, 'Sir' Stephen May in 1801. However, before any house was built, May transferred the lease to Foster Coulson (1802-15) and May ended up detained in Paris by Napoleon (1803-14). He used the title 'Sir' without being entitled to it (his father was legitimately Sir Edward May). He was eventually knighted in 1816 (The History of Parliament).
By 1805 a house had been built and it was named Rosetta. It seems likely that this was chosen for patriotic, nationalistic reasons, probably with a specifically anti-French sentiment. The Rosetta Stone had been found in 1799 in Egypt, then under French control, but was captured by the British in 1801. In addition to the fact that Britain and France were at war during this period, the name may have been motivated very specifically in defiance of Stephen May's imprisonment in Paris.
In 1811 Rosetta House and Farm are advertised for sale in The Belfast News-Letter in this year. Rosetta Lodge was described in 1825 as a ‘desirable country residence’, whilst Rosetta House was said to be 'about one mile from Belfast, the Newtownbreda Road’ in 1828 (Belfast Commercial Chronicle). The earliest occupier of the house known to us at present was Mrs Eliza Blacker, widow of Rev James Stewart Blacker, who had been rector of Keady. Eliza Blacker died at Rosetta in 1837.
The house was probably named after the Rosetta Stone discovered in 1799 and fully deciphered by Jean-François Champollion in 1822. The house, in turn, seems to have given name to Rosetta National School, now Rosetta Primary School. It is said that a plaster-cast replica of the Rosetta Stone was once displayed in the school, set into a wall, but that this disappeared in the 1920s.
"Resolved – That the name Rosetta Drive be approved for a new street on the property of Mr. H. Forbes, off Rosetta Parade". (22nd December 1931).
Many thanks to Paulina Sienniak for researching the history of Rosetta (house).