The hill was known in the original Gaelic as Beann Mhadagáin (meaning "Madigan's hill"), after one of two Kings of Ulaid: Matudán mac Muiredaig, who ruled from 839 to 857 A.D., or a later king, Matudán mac Áeda (reigned 937-950 A.D.).
United Irishmen Theobald Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken allegedly met at Cave Hill in 1795 to take an oath to launch the rebellion of 1798.