# Street name importance **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 2, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839 "2006-03-02T23:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/61 "2006-03-05T17:27:01Z")
There’s a neighborhood in Jacksonville, FL full of rather dull, concrete block homes, of names including: Miss Muffet Lane Jack Horner Lane Goldilocks Lane Tinkerbell Lane Bo Peep Drive Pinnochio Drive Figaro Lane Looking Glass Lane I’d be hard-pressed to even\* look \* in such a neighborhood, much less bid on a house there. The neighborhood where I grew up was full of Oaks - Water Oak, Willow Oak, Black Oak, Red Oak, White Oak, Oak… We lived on Amuskai - maybe that means “oak” in some native language?? We’ve lived on several streets with long names: Sunrise Village Dr Lake Asbury Drive Hickory Glen Drive Those are a huge pain when you fill out forms - often they’re longer than space allows. We bought some property on Oak Drive, figuring that’s where we’d build. But instead we bought a house on Woodridge Dr, and sold the lot, so we’ve not only got a longer name, I have to tell people it’s one word, not 2. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/62 "2006-03-05T18:20:47Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > How about those cutesy intersection names like the corner of… > > Amos & Andy > > Mason & Dixon > > I’m sure I’ve seen more. The triangle of Hickory Ave., Dickory Ave., and Dock Street (with Mouse Ln. nearby) in Harahan, LA. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/63 "2006-03-05T19:01:46Z")
A new development in one of the wealthy Boston suburbs went all ‘cutesy natural’ in picking their names. Thinks like: Brown Bear Crossing, Stag Leap, Pine Cone Lane, and so forth. My friend worked the sales department for the development. She claimed there was one street that gave them particular difficulties, that the last six houses unsold in the development were all on it. The name? Nut Meadow. 😛 What I wonder now is why didn’t they just change the name? Turn it into “Pheasant Nest Way” or something? Is it that hard to rename streets? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/64 "2006-03-05T19:03:34Z")
While most of the streets in Kenner, LA, are either named after streets or numbered, the neighborhood around the medical center has streets named after universities. South to North: Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Duke, Emerson, Furman, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Incarnate Word, Johns Hopkins, Kilgore, Louisiana State, Loyola, Miami, Milsaps, William and Mary, Houston, Notre Dame, Oglethorpe, Purdue, Rice, Stanford, and Temple. West to East: Tulane, Northwestern, Loyola, Trinity, Kingston, Dartmouth, Oberlin, Emory, Bradley, Colgate, Princeton, Marquette, Yale, and Ole Miss. Yes, there are two Loyolas: one separated into W Loyola and E Loyola by the third, which is just plain Loyola. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/65 "2006-03-05T22:18:20Z")
My sister lives on Dickman Drive, which makes the twelve-year-old within giggle. It’s named after, I believe, a dead general. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/66 "2006-03-05T22:40:15Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > While most of the streets in Kenner, LA, are either named after streets or numbered… Weird…that second “streets” should have been “states”. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/67 "2006-03-05T22:41:27Z")
When I was a child, we lived on Hooker Lane for a while. I think I can live anywhere now. I have a friend who lives on Gay Street, half a block away from where it crosses Queens Road. He’d been there a year before he noticed. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/68 "2006-03-05T23:25:29Z")
I grew up on Prison Road. Which would make a great title for a country music song. But it’s since been renamed Trudeau Road. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/69 "2006-03-06T01:41:48Z")
> [@bonobo\_jones](#): > > It didn’t stop me from buying my present house, but “Cronk Avenue” just sounds weird. It was named after one of the first weathermen/broadcasters in the country and this was his hometown. So, does that make you a Cronkite, then? 🙂 > [@](#): > > Weird street names in SE Michigan…Green Cars. Romeo Plank. Dye Krest, which makes me think Dyke Rest, which is cute. > I don’t know how many people see the irony in pastoral sounding street names in new subdivisions. Hidden Oaks, Green Meadow, Cherrywood, Summerfield, Forest Glen. All things that were chopped down and leveled to make way for acres of bland houses with tiny manicured lawns. Oh yes. The subdivision named after what they demolished to build it. In Whitby, there is a subdivision named Otter Creek. No otters, no creek. (Actually, there never was a creek there.) Pheasant Run. No pheasants, nothing left to run. Hickory Ridge. No trees and flat as a board. At least Edmison Heights in Peterborough has a _hill_. ---
**Author:** ![bookbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bookbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bookbabe)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/70 "2006-03-06T09:07:03Z")
There’s a Chow Mein Lane --which has the Orient Apartment complex located on it-- in my neighborhood. I have a client who lives on Pot Hole Road. It’s actually named for Pot Hole Lake, which is at the end of the road. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/71 "2006-03-06T09:24:36Z")
> [@bookbabe](#): > > There’s a Chow Mein Lane --which has the Orient Apartment complex located on it-- in my neighborhood. > > I have a client who lives on Pot Hole Road. It’s actually named for Pot Hole Lake, which is at the end of the road. There is a **Poppinghole Lane** on the Kent/Sussex border near Tunbridge Wells. I live in Gillingham, Kent, which used to be an army town, so a lot of the streets are named after famous generals or land battles (For example, I live on **Marlborough Road** ). Chatham is nearby. It used to be a navy town, so a lot of streets thare are named after sea battles, admirals and warships. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/72 "2006-03-06T12:32:18Z")
I just remembered - this is in Michigan, mind you - a subdivision called Grand Wailea. All the streets have Hawaian themed names. Lanai Place. Maui Drive. Island Court. Wailea Drive. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/73 "2006-03-06T12:44:07Z")
I can’t imagine letting a street name affect a house purchase. When I was in high school, we moved to Abseguami Trail and my Mom lived there for 38 years. (Ignorant new people moving in kept calling it Abse **q** uami and the street sign has been erroneously changed in recent years.) It is supposed to be an Indian (Algonquin?) word meaning “winding trail that ends at water” which is a good description of the street. On the other hand, I did get a kick out of several corporations [del]pleading with[/del] petitioning Troy, MI to change the name of the main thoroughfare to 16 Mile Road (consistent with the numbered “Mile” roads to the South) from Big Beaver Rd. I particularly enjoyed that they were turned down after a fiery reception from the citizens who lived near (but not on) Big Beaver. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/74 "2006-03-06T16:31:24Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I can’t imagine letting a street name affect a house purchase. Even Hitler Road? Even a long, unpronounceable Polish name? Even a redneck name liike “Lori Lynn Lane,” “Tammi Sue Court” or “[Dale Earnhardt Boulevard](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Dale+earnhardt+road,KANNAPOLIS+NC&ll=35.487222,-80.621944&spn=0.005233,0.005289)?” ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/75 "2006-03-06T17:08:10Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > There’s a neighborhood in Jacksonville, FL full of rather dull, concrete block homes, of names including: > Miss Muffet Lane > Jack Horner Lane > Goldilocks Lane > Tinkerbell Lane > Bo Peep Drive > Pinnochio Drive > Figaro Lane > Looking Glass Lane > I’d be hard-pressed to even\* look \* in such a neighborhood, much less bid on a house there. > > The neighborhood where I grew up was full of Oaks - Water Oak, Willow Oak, Black Oak, Red Oak, White Oak, Oak… We lived on Amuskai - maybe that means “oak” in some native language?? > > We’ve lived on several streets with long names: > Sunrise Village Dr > Lake Asbury Drive > Hickory Glen Drive > Those are a huge pain when you fill out forms - often they’re longer than space allows. We bought some property on Oak Drive, figuring that’s where we’d build. But instead we bought a house on Woodridge Dr, and sold the lot, so we’ve not only got a longer name, I have to tell people it’s one word, not 2. I grew up in Jax - in “Holiday Hills” - names included Tahiti Rd Montego Rd Bimini Rd Tonga Rd Lido Rd Jamaica Rd Catalina Trinidad Acapulco Barbados Monte Carlo Mandalay Waikiki VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/76 "2006-03-06T17:46:32Z")
I live on Longwood Drive, and that is just fine with me… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/77 "2006-03-06T17:57:23Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Even Hitler Road? Even a long, unpronounceable Polish name? Even a redneck name liike “Lori Lynn Lane,” “Tammi Sue Court” or “[Dale Earnhardt Boulevard](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Dale+earnhardt+road,KANNAPOLIS+NC&ll=35.487222,-80.621944&spn=0.005233,0.005289)?” I agree with **tomndebb**. None of these names would actually factor into my decision. If I like everything else about the house, why should a bad street name affect my decision at all? In fact, I thought those in this thread who said that they didn’t buy a place because of the street name were joking. I couldn’t imagine that they could be serious. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/78 "2006-03-06T19:09:55Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > **Bites When Provoked** , it refers to the [War of the Roses](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses), an on-again off-again civil war in England between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Nobody ever gets my nerdy Historical Reference Humor. ☹😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/79 "2006-03-06T20:43:44Z")
There’s a street in Lexington, KY called Pink Pigeon Parkway. I’d be overjoyed for my - say - gay bar being located on such a street. But living there? It wouldn’t factor into my decision in any way, but my twelve-year-old brain would have to snicker everytime I saw a street sign. Heck, it already does. But nothing beats Longwood Apartments. Would I live there? _Hell yes_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/80 "2006-03-06T20:45:01Z")
Street names are the bestestest thing since maps! -est overload intended. You see, I’m currently in Costa Rica. Most streets here don’t have either names or numbers. Houses don’t have numbers. I went to the doctor and my blood test was run in the same clinic; I came out of it with 3 pieces of paper that had to be sent to my insurance company. One piece gives the address as “125m S of the Pizza Hut”; another one as “125m S of Banco Cuscatlán” (the bank is diagonally across from Pizza Hut); the third one as “150m S of Pizza Hut”. Of course, there are no indications which direction is South on any signs, nor compasses in cars. A distance posted as 5km and indicated as 3.8km in GoogleEarth was measured as 8km by the car. In San José there used to be a huge fig tree. The tree got chopped down over 20 years ago, but people still give addresses in reference to “the big fig tree”. My apartment is in a condo “2km from the airport” (nobody says in what direction, but it’s townwise, which I think makes it east). My address back home is in Capuchinos Street and people will insist on taking off the final S… some of the less cultured ones think it’s named Capuccino… (sigh, it’s not “like the coffee”, the coffee is named after the same order of priests as my street). But even when banks insist in adressing their mail to a cup of coffee it reaches me. I’m not so sure about mail adressed “1km west of a tree which doesn’t exist any more”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839.md?page=5)