Named after Burnside Avenue, which honours the Civil War general Ambrose Burnside.
Forgotten New York says the avenue was named for Burnside, a general ‘who had a mixed record’ and who later became governor of Rhode Island and then a senator from that state. The avenue runs between 179th and 180th Streets; from 1974 to 1979 the station was called Burnside Avenue–180th Street, as 180th Street was then another name for the avenue.