Street name
Categories: Streets and roads | Place names
A street name is an identifying name given to a street or road. The street name usually forms part of the address. Buildings are often given numbers along the street to further help identify them.
Names are often given in a two-part form: an individual name and an indicator of the type of street. Examples include "Main Road", "Fleet Street" and "Park Avenue". The type of street stated, however, can sometimes be misleading.
Main Street and High Street are common names for the major road in the middle of a shopping area in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively.
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Etymologies
The etymology of a street name is sometimes very obvious, but at other times it might be obscure or even forgotten.
Some streets are given a name without a street type designation. The Mall, for example, is the name of various famous streets around the world. The Shambles, derived from the Anglo-Saxon term "fleshammels" ("the street of the butchers") [1], is a historical street name which is common in many cities and towns around England.
The unusual etymologies of quite a few street names in the United Kingdom are documented in Rude Britain, complete with photographs of local signage.
Type of commerce or industry
Many streets were named for the type of commerce or industry that was along them. This practice rarely happens in modern times, but many of those named years ago are still common.
Landmarks
Some streets are name for landmarks that were present along the road when it was contructed. These have often disappeared but the name is retained.
Destination
Many roads, particularly in England and in New England and other Atlantic parts of the US, are given the name of the town to which they lead. However, there are also many examples of streets named after a city that is many miles away and has no obvious link to the road. When the roads do still make it to their stated destination, street names are often changed when they cross the border. ("Lexington St." in Waltham, Massachusetts becomes "Waltham St." in Lexington, Massachusetts, for example.)
Distinguished or famous individuals
Some streets are named after famous individuals or those that are distinguished for some reason. Sometimes people are honoured by having a street named after them while they are alive, though it more commonly happens for historical figures. It is often seen in a persons birth place.
Themes
Groups of streets in one area are sometimes named using a particular theme. In Brampton, Ontario, different sections of the town all have streets starting with the same letter and the alphabetical order reflects chronology. Worcester has two themed areas whereby streets are named after large cities in other countries – Australia and Canada. Leicester has one area named after nuts, with Filbert Street being the home of Leicester City F.C. between 1891 and 2002. A well-known examples is in Philadelphia, where the major east-west streets in William Penn's original plan for the city carry the names of trees: from north to south, these are Vine, Race (originally Sassafras), Arch (originally Mulberry), Chestnut, Market (not a tree), Walnut, Locust, Spruce, Pine.
Street names in Canberra typically follow a particular theme: the streets of Duffy are named after Australian dams and weirs, the streets of Page are named after biologists and naturalists, and the streets of Gowrie are named after Australian recipients of the Victoria Cross.
Grid-based naming systems
In many cities laid out on a grid plan, the streets are named to indicate their location on a Cartesian coordinate plane. For example, the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 for Manhattan provided for numbered streets running parallel to the minor axis of the island and numbered and lettered avenues running parallel to the long axis of the island, although many of the avenues have since been assigned names for at least part of their courses. In the city plan for Washington, D.C., north-south streets were numbered away from the United States Capitol in both directions, while east-west streets were lettered away from the Capitol in both directions. As the city grew, east-west streets past W Street were given two-syllable names in alphabetical order, then three-syllable names in alphabetical order, and finally names relating to flowers and shrubs in alphabetical order. Even in communities not laid out on a grid, such as Arlington County, Virginia, a grid-based naming system is still sometimes used to give a semblance of order.
Street renaming
Street names can usually be changed relatively easily by municipal authorities for various reasons. Sometimes streets can be renamed to reflect a changing or previously unrecognized ethnic community or to honour politicians or local heroes. A changed political regime can trigger widespread changes in street names – many place names in Zimbabwe changed following their independence in 1980 with streets named after British colonists being changed to those of Zimbabwean nationalist leaders. Some international cause célèbres can attract cities around the world to rename streets in solidarity; for example a number of streets with South African embassies were renamed honouring Nelson Mandela during the period of his imprisonment. Street names can also be changed to avoid negative associations, like Malbone Street in Brooklyn, New York City, renamed Empire Street after the deadly Malbone Street Wreck.
Sometimes street renaming can be controversial, because of the overturning of a respected traditional name, or confusion from the altering of a familiar name useful in navigation. Issues of familiarity and confusion can be addressed by the street sign showing the current name and, in smaller writing, the old name. One compromise when the issue is more political can be "co-naming", when the old name is fully retained but the street is also given a second subsidiary name, which may be indicated by a smaller sign underneath the 'main' name.
Symbolism
Some street names in large cities can become metonyms, and stand for whole types of businesses or ways of life. "Fleet Street" in London still represents the British press, and "Wall Street" in New York City American finance, though neither street actually serves these industries anymore. The cachet of streets like Park Avenue can prove effective branding, as for the Buick Park Avenue luxury car.
Street type designations
Streets can be divided into various types, each with their own general style of construction and purpose. However, the difference between streets, roads, avenues and the like is often blurred and is not a good indicator of the size, design or content of the area. For example, London's Abbey Road serves all the vital functions of a street, despite its name, and locals are more apt to refer to the "street" outside than the "road". A desolate road in rural Montana, on the other hand, may bear a sign proclaiming it "Davidson Street", but this does not make it a "street".
In the United Kingdom many towns will refer to their main thoroughfare as the High Street, and many of the ways leading off it will be named "Road" despite the urban setting. Thus the town's so-called "Roads" will actually be more streetlike than a road.
In some other English-speaking countries, such as New Zealand and Australia, cities are often divided by a main "Road", with "Streets" leading from this "Road", or are divided by thoroughfares known as "Streets" or "Roads" with no apparent differentiation between the two. In Auckland, for example, the main shopping precinct is around Queen Street and Karangahape Road, and the main urban thoroughfare connecting the south of the city to the city centre is Dominion Road.
In Manhattan, East-West streets are "Streets" whereas North-South streets are "Avenues". In Ontario, numbered concession roads are East-West whereas "lines" are North-South routes. In San Francisco some East-West streets are alphabetically ordered.
In Montreal, "Avenue" (used for major streets in other cities) generally indicates a small, low-traffic residential street. Exceptions exist, such as Park Avenue and Pine Avenue. Both are major thoroughfares in the city.
Street type designations include:
- Major roads
- Avenue
- Boulevard
- Road
- Street
- Small roads
- Drive
- Gardens
- Grove
- Heights
- Lane
- Mews
- Pathway
- Terrace
- Trail
- Way
- Cul-de-sacs
- Close
- Court
- Place
- Named for their shape
- Circle
- Crescent
- Square
- Other
- Alley
- Esplanade
- Promenade
Numbering
Some major roads, particularly motorways and freeways, are given road numbers rather than, or in addition to, names. Examples include the M1 and Interstate 5. Many streets in Britain are given both a number and a name as part of the Great Britain road numbering scheme. The same is also common in the United States; for example, in Washington, D.C., much of New York Avenue is U.S. Highway 50.
Signage
Most streets have a traffic sign at the entrances and exits to indicate the name of the road. The design and style of the sign is usually common to the district in which it appears. Such signs are often the target of simple vandalism, and signs on unusually or famously named streets are especially liable to street sign theft.
References
- ^ "The Shambles" at Britain Express. Accessed 27 August 2005.