Street names

[Tomisimo]

In another thread Sosia asked about Wisteria Lane, if it is a common street name, and I got to thinking. Streets in the US are often named after flowers, trees, and sometimes famous people (local businesspeople, human rights leaders etc). Often in a city, streets going one way (eg. east-west) will have names, and the streets going the other direction (north-south) will be numbered.

In Mexico, numbered streets are almost non-existant AFAIK, and street names are almost always named after past presidents and political/historical figures, or significant dates in Mexican history.

Some common Mexican street names:

Presidents and Political figures
José María Morelos
Lázaro Cárdenas
Miguel Hidalgo
Pino Suárez
Venustiano Carranza
Vicente Guerrero
Luis Ponce
Álvaro Obregón
Benito Juárez
Emiliano Zapata
Francisco I Madero

Almost every city or town in Mexico has a Morelos, Juárez, Hidalgo etc street.

Common Dates
1 de mayo
5 de mayo
16 de septiembre
7 de febrero
21 de marzo
20 de noviembre

It's interesting to note with the streets that are named after dates that they are feminine. If you're talking about Benito Juárez' birthday, you'd say el 21(veintiuno) de marzo, but if you're talking about the street, you la 21(veintiuna) de marzo.

So... what about other countries? What are the street-naming conventions?

[sosia]

Spain:
At the beginnin the streets were named for it's importance "Via mayor" or simply with the name of the next town it headed "Calle de Ronda" "Calle Sevilla".
Later with names of the proper artisans (usually all the artisans worked in the same street "Calle pellejeros", "Calle zapatería"...
Then usually were famous people (king, writers, artist, historic politicians ..)
Now we are building a lot and we have districts with "tematic" names (all the streets have flowers names, tree names river names,..)
But I have never found a street with only a number "Calle 45". Sound very odd, like you have nobody to honour.
greetings

[poli]

I dont know why it took me so long to figure out that Gran Via translates
directly to Broadway

[Tomisimo]

Another common one is Main St. and First St. (1st St.) in the US. This would be the main street that passes through the town.

[Elaina]

Sometimes an avenue or street will be named after the state....i.e. New Mexico Avenue, California Street or is it Boulevard(?), etc.

Having streets that are numbered are a good idea to avoid getting lost albeit boring as Sosia says. But if you are in a new city and know that streets are numbered it is practically impossible to get lost, don't you think? Unless you are in New York where they have streets AND avenues that are numbered. I guess that's why they have so many taxis.....

Elaina

[MonteChristo]

Here in this part of California the streets are numbered; east and west are 10th street 11 street and north and south are 10 avenue 11th avenue and so on. The even have 10 1/2 Ave and 9 1/4 ave

A lot of new neighborhoods will pick a theme and use it to name all of the streets. for example birds; sparrow, robin, wren, jay, hawk etc.

[Rusty]

Many towns/cities that I'm familiar with use the numbered streets and avenues format MonteChristo described.

It is virtually impossible to get lost in many towns/cities in Utah, if they mimic the street grid plan of Salt Lake City. The grid has a center and nearly all the streets extend at right angles north, south, east or west of it. Each street in the grid is designated by a number, in the hundreds, and a compass direction from the center of the grid.
The first street south of the center point, running east and west of center, is called 100 South. The next block to the south is 200 South, and so on. The first street east of the center point, running north to south, is called 100 East. The next block to the east is 200 East, and so on.
So, if you live at 296 South 300 East, you live on the street located three blocks east of the grid's center, and almost three blocks south of it (296 is your address on 300 East, your street's name). And, since house numbers that end in an even number are located on the east side of the street, it is likely that this address is assigned to the last house on 300 East, just before it intersects with 300 South street (heading south).
Sometimes other names are assigned to prominent streets within the grid, but they are also known by their numbered name.

[Elaina]

No offense Rusty but I think I'm lost!!

I'm glad I don't live at 296 South 300 East.

In the State of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, they have numbered streets. Numbered streets run North and South only. There are no numbered avenues either. And if you're traveling towards Lake Michigan, you are traveling East. I think it helps to have a natural element to guide you also!

Elaina

[sosia]

Use googlemaps, Live earth or a GPS.
It's more romantic with a name

[Jane]

Originally Posted by Elaina

No offense Rusty but I think I'm lost!!

I'm glad I don't live at 296 South 300 East.

Elaina

Couldn´t agree less Elaina.