The earliest reference to St James Street off the Antrim Road or Duncairn Street as it was known until 1903 occurs in September 1872 in the Belfast Telegraph.
A surmise: this street was called after a nearby church, St James Church (of Ireland) on the corner of Duncairn Street and Cliftonville Road which had been consescrated on Thursday 2nd March 1871. Details of the consecration were carried in the Belfast Morning News on Friday 03 March 1871.