I have a friend who lives on a street called Antwerp Court. The first time I went to his house, I didn’t bother to memorize the street name. I just thought, “It’ll be the street named after a European city.”
Of course, every street in that subdivision was named after a European city. After passing Zurich Terrace, Cologne Drive, Brussels Road, and so forth, I finally had to break down and actually look at the address.
Old joke: “The subdivision developers knock down all the trees, then name the streets after them.”
There’s a 1950’s subdivision near me where the streets are named after universities.
There’s a neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills called the “bird streets” because they were named after birds. Very desirable neighborhood.
Zion, Illinois, perhaps unsurprisingly, has streets named for Old Testament people and places - Ezra, Gabriel, Gideon. I know that a religious whacko tried to set up a theocracy there, but I’m pretty sure (but I admit ignorance on this point) that the town and its names existed before the guy rolled through town.
Cadillac Saskatchewan
Prelate Saskatchewan
Over by New Orleans International Airport – between I-10 and the lake – are groups of themed neighborhoods. The university theme – centered on Loyola Drive – is the largest; also present are a bayou theme and a gated community with a palm tree theme – centered on Royal Palm Blvd.
Here is an area in Dallas with Disney based street names:
Looks like somebody got Sleepy and Fantasia switched around. 
That’s niche. Cool!
There’s a street about a mile from me called Chignahuapan Way. I guess it’s a small town in Mexico, but none of the other streets nearby have that kind of names.
Probably not, but would most people recognize any Longfellow-derived name beyond “Hiawatha”? At least it’s not 1st, 2nd, Main, Oak…
Around here, one developer was known for naming streets for family members, which resulted in there being a Lois Lane.
I was living in NJ when the movie Schindler’s List came out.
No idea if there are others who honored Oskar Schindler this way.
I don’t think @mixdenny is musing over streets in a development being “theme-named.” As far as I know this is extremely common. I live in a city of 12k and most of our neighborhoods have theme names.
I think he’s curious as to why this neighborhood in Bethlehem Township, in southern Stark County, which I would venture to guess has a very European-heritage population (they’re not too far from Amish country) would have a neighborhood of African-themed streets.
My guess? The developer is font of safari vacations and thought it would be fun.
If we’re talking duplicated names, not far from me is the intersection of Clifton Boulevard and Clifton Road. One block east of that intersection is West Clifton, and if you go a block south of that, you’ll hit North Clifton.
Hey! I’ll have you know that African Americans are the second largest ethnic group in that zip code (there’s 6 of them).
| White | 2,936 | 98.6% |
|---|---|---|
| Black Or African American | 6 | 0.2% |
| American Indian Or Alaskan Native | 5 | 0.2% |
| Asian | 5 | 0.2% |
| Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander | 0 | 0.0% |
| Other Race | 2 | 0.1% |
| Two Or More Races | 23 | 0.8% |
Fabulous idea.
We have one named after semi-precious gems. Realtors refer to it as “The Stones”. Next to it is a small development where every doggone road has Maple in the name. It’s really hard to find someone’s house when driving in the dark there. Lotsa opportunity for wrong turns.
My city has a lot of creeks that feed directly into the Mississippi. Most of them are named after birds - Duck, Goose, Sparrow, Robin, etc.
My brother recently moved into a new housing development, and the streets, his included, have a “To Kill A Mockingbird” theme.
I think the real question is why they called it “Zebra Strip Ave”. Did they forget the ‘e’ or is that the red light district?
In the novel Goodbye, Columbus, all the streets in one town were named after very selective American universities. The claim (perhaps joking) in that novel is that this was done for a very specific reason. It says that “I drove up and down the streets whose names were those of eastern colleges, as though the township, years ago, when things were named, had planned the destinies of the sons of its citizens”.