The avenue was renamed Tbilisi Avenue from its earlier name Saray Highway on September 13, 1963 by the Baku Executive Soviet. Different from its current length, it stretched further to the outskirts of Baku up to the settlement of Khirdalan just outside Baku and connect to Baku-Quba highway, but that portion of the avenue was renamed to Moscow Avenue on June 14, 2004 by Mayor of Baku Hajibala Abutalybov due to the earlier renaming on that day of a bigger highway leading from central Baku to the Heydar Aliyev International Airport from Moscow Avenue to Heydar Aliyev Avenue. The area is also known for its bitter past when the Soviet Army tanks rolled through Tbilisi Avenue on January 20, 1990 massacring hundreds of civilians on their way with most of them killed at the 20 January Circle.