Named after Altglienicke, whose name comes from the Slavic word for clay.
The district goes back to the village of Glinik, from Slavic ‘glina’ (clay), first recorded in 1375 as Glinik or Glyneke. In 1764 colonists from the Palatinate settled here as the separate community of Neu-Glienicke (‘New Glienicke’). In 1893 the two villages were united as Alt-Glienicke (‘Old Glienicke’).