# Exotic street names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494 "2014-04-19T17:37:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/1 "2014-04-19T17:37:57Z")
There is a street in Long Beach, CA, named Ximeno (SIMM-uh-no) Avenue. Less dramatic is Voorhees (VORE-hace) Avenue in north Redondo Beach. I know there is a street in San Francisco named Gough (Gawf) Street. Any other streets with unusual spellings or pronunciations? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/2 "2014-04-19T17:47:11Z")
Jamacha Road in San Diego. It’s not exotic in the sense that it is from Kumeyaay, the local native language, but the spelling is odd for both Spanish and English: HAM-uh-shaw. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/3 "2014-04-19T17:54:44Z")
When I lived in North Carolina, We lived on “Kerrimur” Drive. Had fun with that, as it was a brand new street, and we were the first family to live on it. No one believed it existed. Even now, when I searched for “Kerrimur” on Google, the first page of results was nothing but addresses on my old street. I’m assuming, since the neighborhood is called _Scotch Meadows_, that it is named after the Scottish town of [Kirriemuir](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirriemuir) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/4 "2014-04-19T17:58:59Z")
Well, there’s Gansevoort st. in Manhattan. But, my favorite street name has to be Apple’s address: **1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA.** ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/5 "2014-04-19T17:59:38Z")
[Zzyzz Road](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California), a random freeway exit between So. Cal and Las Vegas. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/6 "2014-04-19T18:17:55Z")
Chicagoans have been baffled by Goethe Street for generations. And we have three streets that rhyme with “vagina.” ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/7 "2014-04-19T18:36:41Z")
Fuk Man Road in Hong Kong. Great restaurant I like on there, serves ribs. [https://maps.google.com.hk/maps?newwindow=1&safe=strict&q=fuk%20man%20road%20hk&bav=on.2,or.r\_cp.&bvm=bv.65058239,d.dGc,pv.xjs.s.en\_US.Xm3CSs9ypgk.O&biw=1366&bih=667&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl](https://maps.google.com.hk/maps?newwindow=1&safe=strict&q=fuk%20man%20road%20hk&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.&bvm=bv.65058239,d.dGc,pv.xjs.s.en_US.Xm3CSs9ypgk.O&biw=1366&bih=667&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/8 "2014-04-19T18:44:40Z")
Columbia, SC, torments new residents with Gervais (jer-VAY) Street and the slightly (to my mind) less confusing Trenholm (TREN-um) Road. Charlotte, NC, mostly gives people fits for its roads to change names for no reason, or worse, one intersection where two roads meet and [they both turn left](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Providence+Rd+%26+Queens+Rd/@35.1959738,-80.8272493,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x88569fea079d2427:0xf77af2a470a8aa0c?hl=en) (or right, depending on which way you’re going). ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/9 "2014-04-19T19:12:41Z")
I sometimes cycle past a road called Azimghur Close.Presumably named after some great exploit of the Raj. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/10 "2014-04-19T19:45:44Z")
There’s Quaker Street in Schenectady, which is confusing because it’s the name of a town, which has no street named “Quaker St.” There’s also Dutch named street like Veeder St. and Van Vranken Avenue. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/11 "2014-04-19T19:53:25Z")
There’s a Chili Avenue in Rochester. Which is not too unusual a spelling but it’s pronounced so it rhymes with sky high. ---
**Author:** ![TrappedSouls](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TrappedSouls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TrappedSouls)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/12 "2014-04-19T20:21:55Z")
In Lake Havasu City, AZ there is a street called “Broomrape” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/13 "2014-04-19T20:44:19Z")
There is an entire section of a subdivision in Elk Grove, CA that has streets named after science fiction writers. [[Map link to Heinlein Way]](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Heinlein+Way/@38.464982,-121.343186,17z) (A case of a hamlet growing into a town growing into a giant bedroom community so fast that they couldn’t find unique names fast enough…) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/14 "2014-04-19T21:01:09Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Columbia, SC, torments new residents with Gervais (jer-VAY) Street and the slightly (to my mind) less confusing Trenholm (TREN-um) Road. Also “Huger,” pronounced “yew-JEE.” It was named after an old family, and that’s the way they pronounced their name. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/15 "2014-04-19T21:12:09Z")
You can 't beat New Orleans. In one old district, the streets are named after the Greek Muses: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe , Melpomene, Polyhymnia Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. There is also a neighborhood with names like Arts, Agriculture, Industry, Hope, Law, Treasure, Abundance, and my favorite, Duels, which was then thought of as a virtue of that class… A street is named after Paul Morphy, the world chess champion. Galveston, Texas, has lettered streets, too close together, so there is a P, P-1/2, Q, Q-1/2, R, R-1/2. etc. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/16 "2014-04-19T21:22:20Z")
Memphis has a bunch of streets with the beginning being a name or part of a name, and the end Wood. The two that come to me are Johnwood (where I used to babysit) and Shirlwood. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/17 "2014-04-19T22:07:32Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > There is an entire section of a subdivision in Elk Grove, CA that has streets named after science fiction writers. Now **that** is cool! (Unless one of them was named Broomrape!) There is a community near here where several streets are named after notable (possibly local) Olympic athletes, which sounds like a fine idea except that some, fine athletes though they are, have names that are bizarrely unpronounceable. > [@jtur88](#): > > You can 't beat New Orleans. In one old district, the streets are named after the Greek Muses: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe , Melpomene, Polyhymnia Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. Also cool, although ordering a pizza to be delivered to Polyhymnia Terpsichore Drive might be onerous. And if your name is Panteleimon Stroumboulopoulos, you may as well give up and learn to subsist on frozen pizzas. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/18 "2014-04-19T23:28:44Z")
There used to be a street in Ketchum, Idaho when I lived there about 12 years ago. It was Bobdeaux Street. It was a wonderful bit of local color and everyone was pretty sure how that spelling came about. Someone, when laying out the plat, had conflated ‘r’ for b’. Anyway, some jerk local government monkey changed it a few years after I left. I never found out why. All the locals liked it. It was unique and funny. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/19 "2014-04-19T23:29:22Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I know there is a street in San Francisco named Gough (Gawf) Street. Why is “Gough” exotic? It’s a common surname in the UK and Ireland, so I can’t imagine it would be that rare in the USA, given the history of immigration. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494/20 "2014-04-19T23:33:25Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > You can 't beat New Orleans. In one old district, the streets are named after the Greek Muses: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe , Melpomene, Polyhymnia Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. > > There is also a neighborhood with names like Arts, Agriculture, Industry, Hope, Law, Treasure, Abundance, and my favorite, Duels, which was then thought of as a virtue of that class… New Orleans is the overall winner in the U.S. To top it all off, many street names have unusual pronunciations as well. You make think you know how to say Burgundy and Royal as in the names of two of the busier streets in the French Quarter but, chances are, you don’t unless you have been there before. [Tchoupitoulas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchoupitoulas_Street) (pronounced Chop-a-tu-lus) is a major New Orleans street that isn’t hard to say once you know how to do it but it is fun to watch people to try to figure it out on their own. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-street-names/686494.md?page=2)