Named after Freienwalder Straße, which recalls the Brandenburg town of Bad Freienwalde (Oder).
The street was named after Bad Freienwalde on the Oder by 1906 at the latest. At its eastern end is the entrance to the former Stasi remand prison, today the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial. Until 1990 the section north of Goeckestraße was a restricted area because of the prison.