1. What Are Street Names For?
Understanding Names:
Origins, Meanings and Folklore
Week 2
What Are Street Names For?
David Clandfield
Lifelong Learning
Burnhamthorpe Community Centre
1500 Gulleden Drive
Mississauga
October 16, 2018

2. What Are Street Names For?
Understanding Names:
Origins, Meanings and Folklore
Week 2
What Are Street Names For?
David Clandfield
Lifelong Learning
Burnhamthorpe Community Centre
1500 Gulleden Drive
Mississauga
October 16, 2018

3. Understanding Odonyms Understanding Streetnames
Lifelong Learning
Burnhamthorpe Community Centre
1500 Gulleden Drive
Mississauga

4. What Are Street Names For?
Do we need Street Names?
Who names Streets?
Linguistics: Specifics and Generics
Generics - Examples
Specifics – Categories
Themed groupings of Specifics
Incidence
Street name changes

5. 1840 Do we need Street Names? Henley-in-Arden Pop. about 1,000 London
Pop. about 2 million.

6. 1. Do we need Street Names?
Toronto 2009 :
3,600 lanes
Lane 1 E Yonge S Charles
Lane 1 E Yonge S Pleasant
Lane 1 N Bloor E Bathurst
Lane 1 N Bloor E Keele
Lane 1 N Bloor E Perth
Lane 1 N Bloor W Bartlett
Lane 1 N College E Major
Lane 1 N College W Brock
Lane 1 N College W Manning
Lane 1 N College W Margueretta

7. 1. Do we need Street Names?
Chipping Sparrow
Lane
Dyer Lane
Magic Lane

8. Street Names can acquire iconic status

12. Dublin – Edinburgh - Liverpool

13. Street Intersections

14. 1. Do we need Street Names?
Can we manage without in today’s world?

15. Kamakura City Map, Japan No street names; blocks are numbered

16. Block signs
in Tokyo
Prefecture
Houses
numbered
as built
District
Neighbourhood
Block Number

17. 2. Who names streets? Toronto originally
Col. John Graves Simcoe (1st Lt-Gov)

18. 2. Who names streets? Toronto then York 1818 map
Col. John Graves Simcoe (1st Lt-Gov)
1818 map

19. 2. Who names streets now?
Region of Peel Street Names Committee (1976)

20. Peel Region Criteria Revd. August 2018
Avoid confusion for emergency services
Pronunciation (Baron/Barren)
Spelling (Arbor Road/Arbour Green)
Length (25 characters max.)
Duplication
The Too Many rule
sixty already over limit in Peel
e.g. MAR 69, HIL 68

21. Peel Region Criteria Revd. August 2018
NOT SUITABLE
Ethnic Connection
…shall not denigrate individuals or groups and shall not be based upon identifiable ethnic or racial group or religious afflictions. (e.g. Blarney, Methodist) [sic]
Offensive
…with sexual overtones or names that may be considered offensive due to inappropriate humour, parody, slang or double meanings are not permitted (e.g. Joker Hill)

22. St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England

23. Oxford, England

24. Sandwell, West Midlands, England

25. Castleford,
England
1890
2008
Tickle Cock
Bridge
Tittle Cott
Bridge

26. Peel Region Criteria Revd. August 2018
NOT SUITABLE
Ethnic Connection
…shall not denigrate individuals or groups and shall not be based upon identifiable ethnic or racial group or religious afflictions. (e.g. Blarney, Methodist) [sic]
Offensive
…with sexual overtones or names that may be considered offensive due to inappropriate humour, parody, slang or double meanings are not permitted (e.g. Joker Hill)
Frivolous
… considered “frivolous” or complicated, or has unconventional spelling. (e.g. The Growing Way, Little Way Way)

27. Sandwich, Kent, England

28. Ottawa, Canada
Lake Jackson, Texas

29. What Are Street Names For?
3. Linguistics: Specifics and Generics

30. Specifics Generics (suffixes) Gulleden Havenwood Fieldgate Drive
Fowler
Court
Drive
Lane
True suffixes: Broadway, Queensway

31. The “Throstles”, Leeds, England

32. What Are Street Names For?
4. Generics

33. 4. Generics
Street
Watling St, England
Mermaid St, Rye, England
Avenue

35. 4. Generics
Road
London Road
St. Leonards-on-Sea
East Sussex
England

36. 4. Generics
Boulevard
Close
Court
Crescent
Esplanade
Lane
Place
Square

37. 4. Generics Boulevard < Bulwark Close Court Crescent Drive
Esplanade
Lane
Place
Square
<
Bulwark
Turgot map (1736) after Louis XIII’s wall was dismantled

38. Bough Beeches Boulevard

39. Close
Very common in GB, originally enclosing religious buildings:
Cathedral Close: 14 in GB
Abbey Close: 90+ in GB
Priory Close: 100 in Greater London alone
Now normally a short cul-de-sac in suburban developments
Mississauga has 4:
Chalkwell Close
Lincoln Green Close
Ruscombe Close
Russian Olive Close
Toronto has 2:
Corrigan Close
Fairgate Close

40. The P-shaped Close in Hamilton
Abbey Close
BrittenClose
Cherryridge
Close

41. The P-shaped Close in Calgary
Alderwood Close
Allandale Close
Abergale
Close
Aberfoyle
Close

42. 4. Generic Names Crescent Crescent Masthead Cres Martins Pine Cres
Mainsail Cres
Kings Masting Cres
Tallmast Cres

43. 4. Generics
Crescent
Crescent

44. 4. Generics
Esplanade
Esplanade
Toronto 1857

45. 4. Generics
Esplanade
Esplanade
Toronto 1890

46. 4. Generics Esplanade Esplanade Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Seaford, East Sussex

47. Chalkwell Esplanade
Southend-on-Sea

48. 4. Generics
Twitten

49. Narrower and narrower Whitstable, Kent Kingsbridge, Devon
Squeeze Belly Alley
Port Isaac, Cornwall

50. 4. Generic Names Sault Ste-Marie Norland No Specific Barrie
The Crescent
The Drive
The Avenue
Barrie
The Boulevard

51. 4. Generics 8 in Ontario 1 in Saskatchewan 14 in the USA
154 in Great Britain
13 in Ontario
7 in British Columbia
2 in Alberta
1 in Manitoba
0 in the USA
130 in Great Britain

52. 5. Specific Names Self-descriptive Places and Natural World
Numbers and letters
Buildings and Structures
Personal
Commemorative
Qualities
Amenity

53. i. Self-descriptive Importance Size Position Shape Streetsville
Wellington
Mississauga
Mississauga

54. ii. Places Geographical Features Mississauga Port Credit Mississauga
Streetsville

55. ii. Places
Directional

56. ii. Places
Remembering Places
Lewes Way
Sussex Gate
Bexhill Road

57. ii. Places
Remembering Places - Ireland

58. ii. Natural World Trees Flowers Birds Not discussed here except
Animals
Not discussed here except

59. iii. Numbers and Letters
Philadelphia (trees/numbers)
Manhattan (numbered streets/avenues)
Washington (numbers/letters)
New Toronto and Long Branch (42 streets)

60. iv. Buildings and Structures
e.g.
Mills
Etobicoke Creek
Humber River

61. v. Personal Etobicoke & Mississauga Property Owner Names First Names
Montgomery Road, Etobicoke
Valmarie Avenue

62. Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
John Beardsworth (mayor )

63. Presbyterian Pastor Frizzell 1882
Riverdale, Toronto

64. Trethewey
Winthrop

65. Trethewey
Winthrop

66. vi. Commemorative

67. Paris 2e

68. Ends of wars
for France
WWI
WWII
Algerian War

69. D-Day +
Dates of liberation across Normandy
Caen
Mathieu
Yquelon
Formerie

70. Liberated by …

71. part of a reminder of the Yalta conference
Essômes-sur-Marne
part of a reminder of the Yalta conference

72. Essômes-sur-Marne

73. Woodstock, Ontario

74. Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec

75. Fenelon Falls, Ontario

76. Trethewey Drive

77. vii. Qualities

78. ix. Qualities
Quebec City

80. Blackburn, England

81. viii. Amenity

82. x. Amenity
Mississauga
Toronto

83. x. Amenity
Richmond Hill
Vaughan

84. 6. Themed groupings

85. Regina and the diverse royalty theme
Therefore Regina is not the Saskatchewan city

86. 7. Incidence

88. Top 20 Street Names in the USA
Second (10,866)
Third (10,131)
First (9,898)
Fourth (9,190)
Park (8,926)
Fifth (8,186)
Main (7,644)
Sixth (7,283)
Oak (6,946)
Seventh (6,377)
Pine (6,170)
Maple (6,103)
Cedar (5,644)
Eighth (5,524)
Elm (5,233)
View (5,202)
Washington (4,974)
Ninth (4,908)
Lake (4,901)
Hill (4,877)

89. Top 20 Street Names in the UK
High Street
Station Road
Main Street
Park Road
Church Road
Church Street
London Road
Victoria Road
Green Lane
Manor Road
Church Lane
Park Avenue
The Avenue
The Crescent
Queens Road
New Road
Grange Road
Kings Road
Kingsway
Windsor Road

90. Top 15 Street Names in France
1 Rue de l'Église 7 965
2 Place de l'Église 5 755
3 Grande Rue 3 943
4 Rue du Moulin 3 566
5 Place de la Mairie 3 430
6 Rue du Château 2 963
7 Rue des Écoles 2 779
8 Rue de la Gare 2 771
9 Rue de la Mairie 2 672
10 Rue Principale 2 452
11 Rue du Stade 2 421
12 Rue de la Fontaine 2 346
13 Rue Pasteur 2 020
14 Rue des Jardins 1 755
15 Rue Victor-Hugo 1 621

91. 8. Changing Names

92. 8. Changing Names (Planned)
Dundas Street
Component streets in Toronto: West to East
Dundas Street
Arthur Street
Agnes Street
Wilton (Street, Crescent, Avenue)
Whitby Street
Dickens Avenue
Dagmar Avenue
Doel Avenue
Applegrove Avenue
Ashbridge Avenue
Maugham Crescent
Hemlock Avenue

93. 8. Changing Names (Political)
South Africa
France
San Francisco, USA
Ottawa

94. Renaming streets in South Africa
City of Durban

95. Lyon
8e arrondissement
France

96. Seat of Regional Government Languedoc-Roussillon Montpellier, France
“Rue de Vichy ”
June-August 1998
Seat of Regional Government
Languedoc-Roussillon
Montpellier, France

97. San Francisco, 2014

98. Montreal
1967
Ottawa, Ontario, 1967

99. For Further Reference Eric Arthur: No Mean City.
Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1964
Leonard Wise & Allan Gould: Toronto Street Names.
Willowdale, Ont.: Firefly Books, 2000.
Judie Carty: What’s in a Name? The Origin of Belleville Street Names.
Belleville, Ont.: Mika Publishing, 1978.
J.B. Rudnyckyj: Mosaic of Winnipeg Street Names.
Winnipeg: The Canadian Institute of Onomastic Sciences, 1974
La Ville de Montréal: Les rues de Montréal.
Montréal: Éditions du Méridien, 1995.
Adrian Room: The Street Names of England.
Stamford, Lincolnshire: Paul Watkins, 1992.

100. For Further Reference Eric Arthur: No Mean City.
Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1964
Leonard Wise & Allan Gould: Toronto Street Names.
Willowdale, Ont.: Firefly Books, 2000.
Judie Carty: What’s in a Name? The Origin of Belleville Street Names.
Belleville, Ont.: Mika Publishing, 1978.
J.B. Rudnyckyj: Mosaic of Winnipeg Street Names.
Winnipeg: The Canadian Institute of Onomastic Sciences, 1974
La Ville de Montréal: Les rues de Montréal.
Montréal: Éditions du Méridien, 1995.
Adrian Room: The Street Names of England.
Stamford, Lincolnshire: Paul Watkins, 1992.

101. For Online Reference
Short essay on The History of Street Naming in North America
Searchable database of ALL streets in USA:
NB: Limited number of free searches per day, otherwise subscribe.
Streets are listed by state then municipality then zipcode, so a
street that crosses three zipcodes is listed three times.
Searchable database of ALL streets and places in Great Britain: