# When the usual name is a no-go **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056 "2024-09-10T12:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/121 "2024-09-21T20:46:55Z")
[Here’s one person’s explanation on the change to nyjer.](https://naturestuff.net/web/niger-is-the-seed-nyjer-is-someones-idiotic-attempt-at-political-correctness/) ---
**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:** [September 21, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/122 "2024-09-21T23:03:01Z")
Yes, I only ever heard the country name as “nee-zhair”, in part to distinguish it from the river name. And Nigeria. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/123 "2024-09-24T19:19:44Z")
Just because it’s weird, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. There is more than just one town with a road named East Westbrook Road. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/124 "2024-09-27T17:39:34Z")
In Albuquerque there is a Southeast Circle NW, a Northeast Circle SW, and a Northwest Circle NW all right next to each other and intersecting. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/125 "2024-09-27T17:50:30Z")
If I ever have to drive that intersection, I will dissolve into a puff of pure nothingness. At least my brain. Makes my head hurt _now_ only reading. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2024, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/126 "2024-09-27T18:47:43Z")
Dallas has an East Northwest highway ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/127 "2024-09-27T19:02:30Z")
If we’re going that direction (no pun intended), Oakland/Berkeley has 80 East that is simultaneously 580 West. _Of course_, it goes mostly northward. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/128 "2024-09-27T19:14:26Z")
If you are on the main street in Boone, NC, you are simultaneously traveling north on US421 and south on US321. But physically, you are going east. Unless you do a U-turn and all those directions are reversed. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/129 "2024-10-06T13:10:06Z")
That’s the fun of highways. They get named for their overall geographic pattern in relation to other highways and such, but they intersect and overlap at cities and towns, naturally, because they are roads. Their purpose is to connect and cross and intertwine in places so people can go to different places. Also, though the overall connector may run east and west, any particular stretch can run any direction based upon local terrain, the historical layout of the towns as they were first built, etc. The whole “highway named East that runs north and south” is actually sensible because the name is to differentiate between branches of a highway after it splits. E.g. I-35 running north and south splits just north of Dallas and Fort Worth. A branch runs to each metroplex. So they are the East and West branches of I-35. ---
**Author:** ![spikebrennan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@spikebrennan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spikebrennan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/130 "2024-10-06T13:21:55Z")
The Harlem River and East River aren’t rivers either. ---
**Author:** ![spikebrennan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@spikebrennan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spikebrennan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/131 "2024-10-06T13:30:12Z")
I wonder about the logic of using that name, given that “Nova” _in English_ means “massive explosion”. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/132 "2024-10-06T19:21:07Z")
Would have been a problem if it had exploded. But in latin it just means new, like in Nova Scotia ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/133 "2024-10-06T23:22:01Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The university then changed names to the University of North Texas, UNT. The radio station kept the old call letters. The hypothetical new call letters are in use by a pirate station on Dentons. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/134 "2024-10-07T04:13:12Z")
And then there’s Toronto, which has a street named Avenue Road. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/135 "2024-10-07T12:13:14Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Prior to WWI the British royal family’s name was Sax-Coburg-Gotha. At the end of the war they decided that the name sounded too Germanic and they changed it to Windsor. And on the other side of the family, the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/136 "2024-10-07T17:39:15Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten. Which was a simple translation. _Berg_ means “mountain” in German. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/137 "2024-10-07T19:35:10Z")
When told about the name changes, the Kaiser supposedly said that he wanted to see a performance of _The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha_. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/138 "2024-10-07T19:47:48Z")
Willy II was a megalomaniac buffoon, but seemingly he sometimes had a sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/139 "2024-10-07T20:27:01Z")
I believe it was a bit of an off-hand sense of humor. We were having the interminable computer systems standards meetings many years ago at the beginning of wide area networks and connecting multiple locations into one big domain. (Switching to Windows server from Novell). We spent far too much time on whether people should have the simple first-initial-last-name setup, and I had to point out that regardless of standards, “Sam Hitchcock can have whatever other userid he wants…” ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/140 "2024-10-11T00:53:22Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I believe it was a bit of an off-hand sense of humor. ehehehe In South Auckland there is a park named after RAF leader Sir Keith Park. It is just Keith park. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056.md?page=8)