What are very common names for neighborhoods? Why are these names common? How did these neighborhoods get their current names, as opposed to names that would be similar?

Four of the most common neighborhood names:
Downtown
Midtown
Little Italy
Chinatown

I'm intrigued by how common 'Soho' is... There are 'Sohos' in London, Birmingham, New York and (I think) Hong Kong.

The origin of London's Soho is unclear, but its thought to derive from a hunting call ("So-Ho!") from when the area was open hunting land on the outskirts of London.

New York's Soho is a simple abbreviation of 'South of Houston' and is often written 'SoHo' therefore.

I don't know the origin of the Sohos in Birmingham and Hong Kong...

I thought you meant by subdivision names. Like Briarwood or Elm Creek. Downtown is probably the most common neighborhood name there is.

Downtown probably refers to the market which could have often been placed in the valley under a borough. Downtown in my city, oddly enough, refers to the flat hill above the large dale in the deep river valley in my city.

My city does not have a Midtown but it does have Chinatown and a Little Italy, which are close together, north of the downtown.

Other common ones I can think of in our city.

Sherwood
Lakewood

I'm intrigued by how common 'Soho' is... There are 'Sohos' in London, Birmingham, New York and (I think) Hong Kong.

The origin of London's Soho is unclear, but its thought to derive from a hunting call ("So-Ho!") from when the area was open hunting land on the outskirts of London.

New York's Soho is a simple abbreviation of 'South of Houston' and is often written 'SoHo' therefore.

I don't know the origin of the Sohos in Birmingham and Hong Kong...

I always thougt SoHo came from LA; South of Hollywood (boulevard).

It's interesting that Chinatown and Little Italy are found in many American cities (and in other cities around the world, depending on immigration). How come there aren't any "Little Ireland"s or "Little Dublin"s? The Irish came by the thousands here like the Italians. I assume that there aren't too many Koreatowns or Little Tokyos or Little Odessas just because there aren't as many of those immigrants as there are Chinese immigrants.

P.S. I don't know if many Americans have emigrated from the U.S., but if there are large populations of Americans in European or world cities, and they are concentrated in one area, are there "Little America"s?

"insert name here" hills/park/heights.

Beijing has two SoHo:s.

Soho Hong Kong - South of Hollywood Road

Why does Soho sound so common? Is it because it sounds so trendy?

It's interesting that Chinatown and Little Italy are found in many American cities (and in other cities around the world, depending on immigration). How come there aren't any "Little Ireland"s or "Little Dublin"s? The Irish came by the thousands here like the Italians. I assume that there aren't too many Koreatowns or Little Tokyos or Little Odessas just because there aren't as many of those immigrants as there are Chinese immigrants.

P.S. I don't know if many Americans have emigrated from the U.S., but if there are large populations of Americans in European or world cities, and they are concentrated in one area, are there "Little America"s?

I think the biggest thing is the immigration patterns themselves. When the Irish came, they came in large numbers and they essentially lost their identities when they came to America. The Polish, Ukrainians and Germans moved to the US and basically swallowed up large chunks on the frontier. They didn't stick within cities - they created their own cities. Edmonton, Alberta (Ukrainian & Polish); Bismarck, North Dakota (German); Minneapolis, Minnesota (Norwegians) and so forth. The Italians moved in to the already existing cities and joined with the other groups but stuck together unlike the Irish. Thus, they created their own neighbourhood. The Chinese and Greeks are similar. The Vietnamese and Koreans decided to amalgamate with the Chinese and just create a mishmash of Asia in Chinatown.

Well, any city with a chinese population exceeding three families will have a Chinatown, so you can chalk that one up.

Well, any city with a chinese population exceeding three families will have a Chinatown, so you can chalk that one up.
:lol: aren't little italies common too?

In Sydney we have 'Blacktown', it may be a pioneers last name or something but still sounds generic. Also, in Belgrade there is 'New Belgrade', which encompases about 1/5 of the metropolitan area.

I always thougt SoHo came from LA; South of Hollywood (boulevard).

Is there a Soho is LA too? So far then that's:

London
Birmingham (UK)
New York
Hong Kong
Beijing x2
Los Angeles

Obviously your explanation might account for the one in LA, but not any of the others (even though many seem to be similar abbreviations). The origins of London's 'Soho' are at least 400 years old (from Wiki):

"The area which is now Soho was grazing farmland until 1536, when it was taken by Henry VIII as a royal park for the Palace of Whitehall. The name Soho first appears in the 17th century. Most authorities believe that the name derives from the old ‘soho!’ hunting call (Soho! There goes the fox!, etc.).[1][2][3][4] Some have suggested a link with the Duke of Monmouth, who used ‘soho’ as a rallying call for his men at the Battle of Sedgemoor,[5] but the use of the name predates that battle by at least half a century. An alternative proposal is that the name is derived from a shortening of Somerset House, a grand palace to be found to the south of the Strand, built in 1547."

One neighborhood name I cant find outside of Indy is Lockerbie,
but, I would probably have to say things like uptown, downtown, hills, etc are very common.

One neighborhood name I cant find outside of Indy is Lockerbie,
but, I would probably have to say things like uptown, downtown, hills, etc are very common.

Lockerbie is a town in the Scottish Border region made famous for having a Pan Am 747 blown up above it in 1989, which took out a street and killed 11 on the ground (as well as all 259 on board).

Milwaukee ripped off London a little bit less....SoHi.

One of our most loved neighorhoods, the Third Ward, would probally not be too unique. We also have the Lower East Side--which is what New York has.

Los Angeles does NOT have a "SoHo" nor does it want one. Certainly you could make a SoHo by saying "South of Hollywood", but all the places south of hollywood blvd have their own names (including more of hollywood).

LA does however have a NoHo, which is North Hollywood, and actual area, not "north of hollywood blvd"

I find that in Toronto, we don't distinguish sections of the city in terms of East side, South side, etc. like many American cities do. I mean, we're not stupid and we could tell you which sections of the city were under which cardinal directions, but I haven't heard southside / eastside stuff used here.

Beijing has two SoHo:s.

Beijing's SOHO stands for Small Office, Home Office.

It's interesting that Chinatown and Little Italy are found in many American cities (and in other cities around the world, depending on immigration). How come there aren't any "Little Ireland"s or "Little Dublin"s? The Irish came by the thousands here like the Italians. I assume that there aren't too many Koreatowns or Little Tokyos or Little Odessas just because there aren't as many of those immigrants as there are Chinese immigrants.

P.S. I don't know if many Americans have emigrated from the U.S., but if there are large populations of Americans in European or world cities, and they are concentrated in one area, are there "Little America"s?

Because there was racial segregation policy that required Chinese to live in one section of the city, that's how the earliest Chinatown formed.
Seeing how world has become so Americanized, I doubt there are American towns in Europe. But in Beijing at least there are parts of the city where concentration of foreigners is higher, mostly around foreign embassies and multinational HQs not surprisingly.

Capitol Hill: DC, Seattle, Denver...

Beacon Hill: Boston, Seattle...

Pioneer Square? Not really, but many cities have similar names for their most prominent or first historic-building-turned-bar-mixed-use district.

I'm intrigued by how common 'Soho' is... There are 'Sohos' in London, Birmingham, New York and (I think) Hong Kong.

The origin of London's Soho is unclear, but its thought to derive from a hunting call ("So-Ho!") from when the area was open hunting land on the outskirts of London.

New York's Soho is a simple abbreviation of 'South of Houston' and is often written 'SoHo' therefore.

I don't know the origin of the Sohos in Birmingham and Hong Kong...

HK's SOHO stands for South of Hollywood Rd.. Hollywood Rd. is a main rd in the Mid-Levels area.

Applewood, Richview, Riverdale.

something heights I guess

Interesting London fact, although ever so slightly off-topic, is that there are two distinct districts/suburbs called 'Bromley', 2x 'Belmont', 2x 'Plaistow', 2x 'Church End', 2x 'Grove Park', 2x 'Hayes', 2x 'North End' and 2x 'West Heath'. These are all in very different parts of the city and are not linked in away way, except in name only.

These obviously go back to the times when London was much smaller and these places were outlying villages - only to be later swallowed by the ever advancing metropolis.

any "ward" but particularly "9th Ward"

How about bay like Causeway Bay in HK

North, South, East and West sides of town are particularly common in USA.
There's North Las Vegas, East Las Vegas and Northwest Las Vegas just in my town. Also, these neighborhood names sometimes are reffered in hop hop subculture lol

North, South, East and West sides of town are particularly common in USA.
There's North Las Vegas, East Las Vegas and Northwest Las Vegas just in my town. Also, these neighborhood names sometimes are reffered in hop hop subculture lol

I've heard of North Las Vegas when I was there.

Is Downtown a neighbourhood name? just sounds like a descriptive title for the city centre to me. I mean would people who lived in the city centre include 'Downtown' as a line on their address?

It seems common neighbourhood/district names in America are those signifying ethnic groups 'Little Italy etc' and those like Soho which define an area by the street it's in, especially when the street name is common across America (like 1st street), or just it's geographic location such as North Las Vegas.

In the UK, many names of neighbourhoods built to rehouse people from the slums in the 20th century have 'faux-rural idyllic names' such as Freshfield, Fairfield, High Meadows, Blackbird Leys and suchlike. There are also a number of neighbourhoods named after London neighbourhoods such as Kensington, Vauxhall, Islington and so on.

The majority however have older names as they were villages of their own before they were suburbanised... many like Speke, Toxteth, Corkickle and Govan are therefore completely unique but many names are common in both villages, towns and neighbourhoods, such as Parton, Crosby, Walton and suchlike.

CBD

I bet Toronto has the most "Park's". Here's a list from a real-estate website:

Grange Park
High Park
Moss Park
Centennial Park
Thorncliffe Park
Topham Park
Dorset Park
Bedford Park
Lawrence Park
Lytton Park
Teddington Park
Wanless Park
Deer Park
Moore Park
Dovercourt Park
Wychwood Park
Bickford Park
Alexandra Park
Glen Park
Ledbury Park
Victoria Park Villiage
Parkdale
Parkview Hills

Is Downtown a neighbourhood name? just sounds like a descriptive title for the city centre to me. I mean would people who lived in the city centre include 'Downtown' as a line on their address?

It seems common neighbourhood/district names in America are those signifying ethnic groups 'Little Italy etc' and those like Soho which define an area by the street it's in, especially when the street name is common across America (like 1st street), or just it's geographic location such as North Las Vegas.

In the UK, many names of neighbourhoods built to rehouse people from the slums in the 20th century have 'faux-rural idyllic names' such as Freshfield, Fairfield, High Meadows, Blackbird Leys and suchlike. There are also a number of neighbourhoods named after London neighbourhoods such as Kensington, Vauxhall, Islington and so on.

The majority however have older names as they were villages of their own before they were suburbanised... many like Speke, Toxteth, Corkickle and Govan are therefore completely unique but many names are common in both villages, towns and neighbourhoods, such as Parton, Crosby, Walton and suchlike.

the term "downtown" started in NYC b/c it lower manhattan was litterally "downtown". Midtown was in the middle, and uptown was up

Interesting London fact, although ever so slightly off-topic, is that there are two distinct districts/suburbs called 'Bromley', 2x 'Belmont', 2x 'Plaistow', 2x 'Church End', 2x 'Grove Park', 2x 'Hayes', 2x 'North End' and 2x 'West Heath'. These are all in very different parts of the city and are not linked in away way, except in name only.

These obviously go back to the times when London was much smaller and these places were outlying villages - only to be later swallowed by the ever advancing metropolis.

Yes, and I find it odd that the Bromley and Plaistow in SE London are right next to each other, as are the Bromley and Plaistow in East London... 'Plaistow' especially is quite an unusual name... I think these are the only two in the UK, I believe it translates as 'Playing place'.

Hmm fair enough.. in the UK we use the word downtown to refer to the city centre so we will be referring to the entire city centre, and not using 'downtown' as a name but as a descriptive term (just like 'the suburbs' and 'the countryside') I always assumed it was the same in America, and when I heard New Yorkers and Chicagoans refer to 'downtown' I assumed they meant the whole of manhattan or the whole of the central commerical/retail core of any city.

this isn't quite the topic i thought it was...

my cities residential neighborhoods are called:

Hampton Place***
Camelot**
Castleton Estates**
Lattawoods***
The Farms***
Bel-Aire**
Lakewood***
Pioneer*
Rolling Meadows**
Cotton Villa***
Mill Town*(not really official, it's the general area around the old cotton mill that was once here. everyone refers to that area as Mill Town)
Westbrook**
Pill Hill***(this is also more of a casual name and not official. A lot of Doctors live there, so it's nicknamed Pill Hill)

Our downtown area has a lot of houses, but i wasn't sure if i should put that under the residential category =\

*** - high class
** - middle class
* - lower class

Tampa has a SoHo... it stands for South Howard, which is the street that goes thru the neighborhood. Near Tampa's SoHo is also Hyde Park, which is one of the more established neighborhoods. Both SoHo and Hyde Park are geographically in the neighborhood of South Tampa, which is typically where you can find your trendy upscale establishments. Also within the city limits of Tampa you can find the following neighborhoods: Channelside, Seminole Heights, and Tampa Palms (New Tampa)

Hmm fair enough.. in the UK we use the word downtown to refer to the city centre so we will be referring to the entire city centre, and not using 'downtown' as a name but as a descriptive term (just like 'the suburbs' and 'the countryside') I always assumed it was the same in America, and when I heard New Yorkers and Chicagoans refer to 'downtown' I assumed they meant the whole of manhattan or the whole of the central commerical/retail core of any city.

many chicagoans will refer to the whole central business area and surrounding area as "downtown"; this is not the case in NYC; Downtown is the financial district, and the southern tip of manhattan, most of the skyscrapers in manhattan are located in Midtown

Tampa has a SoHo... it stands for South Howard, which is the street that goes thru the neighborhood. Near Tampa's SoHo is also Hyde Park, which is one of the more established neighborhoods. Both SoHo and Hyde Park are geographically in the neighborhood of South Tampa, which is typically where you can find your trendy upscale establishments. Also within the city limits of Tampa you can find the following neighborhoods: Channelside, Seminole Heights, and Tampa Palms (New Tampa)

That reminds me... Anyone want to hazard a guess as to how many Hyde Parks there are?

You mention one in Tampa, I've also come across Hyde Parks in Leeds, Sydney, Perth, and of course London... There must be many more?

Some of the probably common ones I noticed while looking at a list of Minneapolis neighborhoods were: North Loop, Central, East Downtown, and West Downtown. In Saint Paul, it's Downtown, North End, Midway, Highwood, Highland, Greater East Side, West Side, and West 7th.

Minneapolis Neighborhood Profiles (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/neighborhoods/)

Saint Paul Neighborhoods (http://www.stpaul.gov/maps/citymap2.html)

many chicagoans will refer to the whole central business area and surrounding area as "downtown"; this is not the case in NYC; Downtown is the financial district, and the southern tip of manhattan, most of the skyscrapers in manhattan are located in Midtown

I always look at downtown as the main central business district of most US and Canadian cities.

And yes NY is a different case. I always look at Midtown Manhattan as the main CBD or the centre of economic and cultural activity in this city.

Sometimes I see it as this in some cities, downtown is the centre of business and financial activity while midtown is for culture and entertainment.

Midtown Toronto used to be about 20 blocks north of the CBD at Bloor and Yonge. Now it's considered another 30 blocks north of that between St.Clair and Eglinton with Yonge being the central divider. Do other cities have this phenomenon as they grow? Midtown Toronto has never been downtown, and seems to move further out as downtown expands, and mini-downtowns emerge staggered outwards.

Besides the ubiquitous China Town and 2 neighbourhoods called Little Italy, Toronto also has Korea Town, Little Portugal, Greek Town, Little India, Cork Town, and Cabbage Town.

There are also very generic neighbourhood names like The Garment District, The Beaches, Riverside, Parkdale, High Park, Docklands, and Centre Island.

That reminds me... Anyone want to hazard a guess as to how many Hyde Parks there are?

You mention one in Tampa, I've also come across Hyde Parks in Leeds, Sydney, Perth, and of course London... There must be many more?

There's one in Niagara Falls NY as well.

What about "Center City"? Center City is what downtown in Philadelphia is called, and Philly's Center City is maybe the most famous. Wilmington's downtown is also called "Center City", although that term is used more interchangably with downtown, and is not as prevalent as "Center City" is used in Philly. There is a "Center City" in Niagara Falls, NY, but that is a residential area north of the commercial district, in the center of the city limits.

I think that's just either a North American or new World in general thing... in Europe (as far as I know) we don't call our city centres by names as though they were a neighbourhood. Birmingham city centre is just that and so on and so forth.

I think Highland Park may be a common one, there is one in St Paul; I think there is one in Detroit and Chicago as well.

One St Paul quirk is that the West Side is actually south of downtown and is the southern most neighborhood in the city, it is the only neighborhood in the city on the "west" side of the Mississippi.

Common borough/neighborhood name in Polish cities is
Śródmieście (Srodmiescie) which means literally middletown or centertown... translated often Center City / Downtown.

other are Old Town (Stare Miasto) , New Town (nowe miasto) :)


some little weird names in Wroclaw (Wrocław) > Krzyki (screams) and Psie Pole (Dog Field)

There is borough in Warsaw called Praga Północ (Praga Polnoc) and Praga Południe (Praga Poludnie) ... In some slavic languages, Praga is used as a name for Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

I always thougt SoHo came from LA; South of Hollywood (boulevard).

As a Los Angeles native, no one has ever called any part of the city "SoHo."
And I live south of Hollywood Blvd.

There is a place called "NoHo" though (North Hollywood Arts District).

the term "downtown" started in NYC b/c it lower manhattan was litterally "downtown". Midtown was in the middle, and uptown was up

"Downtown" refers to the central part of the city where its City Hall is located.
Manhattan's Downtown not only refers to direction, but NY's City Hall is located there as well.

I think Highland Park may be a common one, there is one in St Paul; I think there is one in Detroit and Chicago as well.

One St Paul quirk is that the West Side is actually south of downtown and is the southern most neighborhood in the city, it is the only neighborhood in the city on the "west" side of the Mississippi.
There is also a Brooklyn neighborhood that is named Highland Pk as well, which is near the Cypress Hills Cemetery.