# Help With Project... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537 "2007-01-03T14:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/1 "2007-01-03T14:55:02Z")
Hubby and I are building houses. We have a piece of land on a marshy area near a river, and we have to come up with a name for the project because things are progressing quite fast. He wants it to have the word 'river 'in it. I can’t come up with anything imaginative…just wondering if anyone think of a catchy name for a group of two duplexes that are going to be state of the art but have a farmhouse look to them. All I can think of are things like ‘river view’ and ‘river farms’ or something boring like that. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/2 "2007-01-03T15:01:22Z")
What’s the name of the river? Can that be used? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/3 "2007-01-03T15:03:11Z")
What state is this in? Would a name from a Native American language be appropriate? Something that would translate to “farm on marshy near a river” but that wouldn’t end up sounding like a kids’ summer camp. Not that I know any such languages, but it’s an idea. But this might not work in, say, Alabama. (PS This is really for IMHO) ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/4 "2007-01-03T15:04:38Z")
Flushing Meadows Manor? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/5 "2007-01-03T15:09:09Z")
It’s in the state on Mass. A Native american name can be used I would imagine. I know it would help, but I don’t want to give the name of the river. It is a very generic waspy name so use something like ‘Perkins’ or ‘Baxter’ or something like that. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/6 "2007-01-03T15:32:07Z")
Well, the following have been traditional among land developers for decades: Baxter Crossing Baxter Gables Baxter Bridge Baxter End Baxter Ridge Baxter Woods Baxter Forest Baxter Acres Baxter Bend Baxter Estates Baxter Valley Baxter Lick Baxter Ferry Baxter Bridge Baxter Rapids Baxter Falls Baxter Creek And then you get into your three-word combinations by adding “Estates” after any of the above…except of course “Estates” because that would give you “Baxter Estates Estates”, which is egregious even by development standards. 😃 As for Native American names, I’m not in the Northeast, so I don’t know how sensibilities run there, but here the native tribes have long since been exterminated, so giving a name like Kickapoo Creek to your subdivision would potentially have negative connotations, as (1) folks don’t care to be reminded of past injustices, and (2) folks don’t know who the heck the Kickapoo were anyway, they being extremely unglamorous agriculturalists and not featuring in any Hollywood movies with John Wayne. I would think that your New England Native Americans would be somewhat the same, except that you have some tribes that still run casinos, and I can’t imagine that Pequot Estates would have folks lining up for your duplexes. Also, there would be the issue of sounding like you were affiliated with the Pequot somehow, which would be confusing. Also, just MHO, but I’d think it sounded just a tad arrogant for a non-Native American to more or less randomly appropriate some Native American language’s word for, say, “Place Where We Meet To Gather Salmon Every Year” and tack it onto your duplexes. I’d stick with good ol’ Anglo-Saxon, myself, but YMMV. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/7 "2007-01-03T17:03:58Z")
Well, I agree about the native american. I don’t necessarily think that would be best, but the other alternatives are just a tad too mundane. ‘Acres’, ‘forest’, farms’…nope. Need something more arty or imaginative. I thought of ‘river’s edge’, but even though I thought it was a great movie, it was depressing at best. The only reason I like the name is because it was a movie. Otherwise, it’s as run of the mill as the others. Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/8 "2007-01-03T17:48:05Z")
How about River Twins or Twin Rivers or something else with Twins in it to acknowledge the fact that they are duplex? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/9 "2007-01-03T19:35:08Z")
Well, the fastest way to evade the run-of-the-mill “Fox Hill Run Crossing Estates” trap is to put yer own name on it, viz and to wit, “Baxter’s Place”. 😃 What ethnicity are you? Could you translate some utterly dreary realtor-speak into a different language that, because of your ethnicity, you’d have some realistic connection to (as opposed to merely picking “Fond du Lac” or “Wolfberg” out of a hat)? I bet “Fox Hill Run Crossing Estates” sounds absolutely gorgeous in Gaelic. ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/10 "2007-01-03T20:37:26Z")
Both Great ideas… I like the twins idea, and we happen to be celtic, so the gaelic thing is cool too. Let me check it out. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/11 "2007-01-03T20:52:31Z")
If you’re next to the river, check out the names of the critters who live there now. The joke about developers is that they tear out all the trees, and then they name the new streets after the trees that once lived there. In your case, most of the wildlife will still be there. Curlew Village Bobwhite Run Otters Trace Trout’s Habitat (I’d stay away from Bass Hole, though.) I sure hope you aren’t building perilously close to flood plain. There’s a neighborhood you hear about every time there’s flooding in Indianapolis. It’s called Frog Hollow. :smack: Every time, I want to ask, “Who would buy a house in a place that means _swamp_? Didn’t they think a place called Frog Hollow would flood every year?” ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/12 "2007-01-03T20:58:06Z")
The system I use for naming my PCs would work for you I think. Describe the item in english, Translate that phrase to Gaelic, then read the words how a really daft english speaker would so they don’t sound Gaelic anymore. Bingo! English sounding words with a deeper hidden meaning! ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/13 "2007-01-03T21:32:50Z")
Cool, cool. But when I checked the Gaelic dictionary, the words didn’t sound all that great. Farm…sgalac, clobhsa, doid, claidheag, treabbachas, pit, sgot… river…abhann, bot, bran, grunnd, labhair, drudhadh… I dunno… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/14 "2007-01-03T22:09:48Z")
“The branpit”? what’s not to love? ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/15 "2007-01-03T22:58:40Z")
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I like Welcome to Grunnd Treabbachas ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-project/386537/16 "2007-01-04T05:56:25Z")
Moved to IMHO. - **xash** General Questions Moderator