How are your streets named?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325720)
Rockingham, Australia
July 8, 2017 1:41pm CST
When one travels to another country it is inevitable that there will be many differences. One of the differences I’ve noticed has been in the way streets are named. In the old town of Fontenay-le-Comte, many seemed to have very long names, seemingly honouring prominent citizens. So there was Rue George Clemenceau, Rue Ste Catherine des Loges, Rue du Dr Aude and Rue Benjamin Fillon. Some of the street names were much shorter of course.
In Australia many streets names are duplicated in various towns. William Allnutt was a surveyor when the colony was very young and several towns have an Allnutt Street. When new suburbs are opened up, street names might follow a theme. I know suburbs where the streets are named after native trees, native birds and breeds of cattle.
So I’m wondering how does your town or city name its streets? I know New York uses numbers and some of these are immortalised in song. So is there rhyme or reason as to the naming of streets where you live?
The street sign shown is from a port town on the Garonne River north of Bordeaux.
15 people like this
16 responses
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
8 Jul 17
We have numbered avenues and and named streets as well, the main North-South street in town is Willamette St. (Will 'Amette), others are pretty mundane (Oak, High, Pearl). Willamette is also the name of one of the main rivers in the state and is taken from an American Indian word.
4 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
9 Jul 17
@teamfreak16 I wonder where that came from?
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Jul 17
We have a Willamette here in Colorado Springs as well.
3 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
8 Jul 17
Here, we have basic street names, unless they are named after things like American Indian tribes that were prominent in this area, or historical Colorado Springs people.
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@JudyEv (325720)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jul 17
@teamfreak16 We put in coordinates today to try to get to a particular place and Doris took us up this really narrow, pot-holed dirt road. Which hasn't go t much to do with being confusing but 'lost' comes to mind. We got where we were trying to go but we'll choose a different way out.
1 person likes this
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 17
Many of the streets in my town are named after either institutions or popular places that exist on that street like for example we have a lighthouse hill road , St Aloysius college road,Bunder Road ( Bunder is sea port in the local language )..also named after leaders - Mahatma Gandhi Road
2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (45467)
• India
10 Jul 17
Yes streets and roads named after "Xyz college" or "Abc University" are also common.
1 person likes this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
8 Jul 17
I remember one town in particular because I used to be kidded about the street... Shady Glen... as in a person lol.
2 people like this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
10 Jul 17
@JudyEv It never occurred to me until someone made a joke of it... he thought that he was being quite clever lol!
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458006)
• Switzerland
10 Jul 17
@JudyEv When mentioning a street in Italy (or here in Switzerland) we usually mention the surname. As an example a street in Milan is called Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi, of course we say "Corso Garibaldi", but the plate mentions the full name. Here there are several "Via Turconi", but the first name of Turconi is not the same, better to be precise.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (45467)
• India
10 Jul 17
In India, road and street names are often named after politicians, some after famous sportspersons, old kings or queens or armymen.
Many streets have numbers.
Some are named after academic giants like C.V.Raman Road.
In many Indian cities, you will see roads named after Mahatama Gandhi(M.G.Road).
And I rarely see any streets or roads named after Lions, Panthers, Elephants, Giraffes(some exceptions could be there).
Then we have routine names signifying roads leading to other cities or towns like New Rohtak Road.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325720)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jul 17
We have some of the latter too. Occasionally a person will be honoured by having a road named after him or her.
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
8 Jul 17
In Spain the street names are a bit like the french ones named after people events a family names...but in england we have many common street names shared with lots of towns ...like king street, queen street... the walk, crown street, potters row, oak lane, church lane...ect... and like in your country in the new builds they have themed street names...
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79708)
• United States
9 Jul 17
In our town many names are repeated like Adams....Adams Street, Adams Road, Adams Blvd. I can't figure out any rhyme or reason for how our streets are named here
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325720)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jul 17
That would be confusing to have so many of the same.
@moffittjc (118435)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Jul 17
The city I live in uses numbers, very similar to the system New York City uses.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118435)
• Gainesville, Florida
20 Jul 17
@JudyEv Can you imagine how confusing the streets of Paris are? That city is crazy to navigate!
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@JudyEv (325720)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Jul 17
@moffittjc That's a great way to organise the streets. Some of our streets in some cities just follow contours and it can be very confusing trying to figure out where you are.
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@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Jul 17
Los Angeles is a dictionary of names. Many streets are named after local important historical figures. Very few named after movies stars and those are recent re-named honorary.
2 people like this
@thislittlepennyearns (58134)
• Defuniak Springs, Florida
8 Jul 17
There's a suburb a couple towns over where all the streets are named after breeds of horses. Then a whole area of that same town where they are letter streets.
Here a lot of the streets are named after old farmers, or the farms. Our street is Bo Lane.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325720)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jul 17
Some of our older roads are named for the first farmers who lived down that way.
@RasmaSandra (73408)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
8 Jul 17
Nope our streets have specific names also people names. Mostly from history or of some significance to the capital Riga. When Latvia became independent again many street names were changed from what the Soviets named them to what they used to be before the occupation so for awhile it was rather confusing for everyone. I arrived here in 1884 so by that time everything was just about back to normal.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (12595)
• Ireland
8 Jul 17
@judyev I found it quite amusing to see who all had squalid back alleys named after them in Paris and who got the Grandes Avenues. I lived in a rue called after Paul Éluard, the poet. It was fairly squalid, a favourite for dog walkers in pre poop scooping days.
I also want to know the history behind Manchester's Brazennose Street.
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