What are the most unique neighborhood names in your city, and how did they get their names?

Wilmington has a few unique neighborhood names:

Trinity Vicinity: A small residential neighborhood located in the vicinity of Trinity Episcopal Church.
Ship's Tavern: The area north of the Riverfront, in the Market Street area. In colonial days and the early 1800's, trading and other business was done in taverns, and this tavern district located near the Christina River was where business in Wilmington was done. Ships would dock o the Christina and trade their goods in the taverns in this area.
Forty Acres: An area on the west side of town, developed in the late 1800's. The land was farmland before development. It was said that 1 acre of land in this area could produce crops equal to 40 acres in other areas outside of Wilmington.

I go to Buffalo, NY a lot, and one of the most interesting names for a neighborhood is Iron Island. Iron Island is a small neighborhood surrounded on all side by railroads.

London has Elephant and Castle. Pretty unique, eh! :)

"The name itself predates this account. Apocryphally, it is a corruption of the Spanish Infanta de Castilla, meaning the eldest daughter of a monarch, who had supposedly landed by Royal Barge in Newington (renamed Elephant and Castle in honour of Catherine) sometime during 1501, as the betrothed to Arthur, Henry VIII's elder brother who died leaving Catherine a widow. Another explanation is that the land belonged to the Cutlers' Company, who had an elephant and a castle on their coat of arms. The elephant referred to the ivory used to make handles for expensive cutlery."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_and_Castle



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Anelephantwacastle.jpg


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Elephant-aerial.jpg

there's a city in the norfolk, virginia area that has a "downtown" and an "overtown". oh and who could forget nyc's "hell's kitchen"?

There is an area of my city Cardiff called splott, the local housing market has forced yuppies into moving to the area calling it Cardiff bay east! (not a bad area now, just victorian terraces). Then of course there are the unusual welsh names for areas eg as Llandaff, roath etc.

Ironbound: Newark

Most place names in London are pretty unique, although I can think of another Acton, Farringdon and Clapham in other parts of England. Here are some of my favourite 'odd' ones:

Tooting (The land of Tota's people)
Tooting Bec (Bec = Beck / Brook = Stream)
Tooting Graveney (The Graveney is a small river in the area)

Bow (?)

Isle of Dogs (Possibly due to a nobleman from Greenwich keeping his dogs here)

Wapping (Land of Waeppa's people)

Kew (Originally 'Cayho' = Quay)

Barking (Land of Baecca's people)

Becontree (= Beacon tree... Tree where a beacon [fire for communication] was lit)

Theydon Bois (?)

Hainault (?)

Ruislip (?)

Fairlop (?)

St Paul has Frogtown, there are a number of different stories about the origin of the name. One false one is that it was home to a large number of French Canadian immigrants. In actuallity the neighborhood was an infilled swamp so had a large frog population for the first couple decades after it was built and the name stems from that.

St Paul has Frogtown, there are a number of different stories about the origin of the name. One false one is that it was home to a large number of French Canadian immigrants. In actuallity the neighborhood was an infilled swamp so had a large frog population for the first couple decades after it was built and the name stems from that.

:lol: those french canadians.

:lol: those french canadians.There were a lot of French Canadians in the Twin Cities in the early days - they just didn't live in Frogtown. The St Paul suburbs of Little Canada and Vadnais Heights were originally settled by them. St Paul was founded by a French Canadian as well.

Skyrattler - Named after a Cree chief

Ozerna - Ukrainian for lake-land

Yellowhead - Named after the mountain pass, which was named after Pierre Hatsinaton.

Overlanders - Refers to the travellers coming from Winnipeg to Edmonton via Red River carts as opposed to by boat.

Poundmaker - Named after Cree Chief Pitikwahanapiwiyin

These are towns in Canada rather than neighbourhoods, but they are truly bizarre:

Heart's Desire, Newfoundland and Labrador
Conception Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador
Sheshatshit, Newfoundland and Labrador
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Medicine Hat, Alberta
Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, Alberta

Sheshatshit, Newfoundland and Labrador


One has to wonder how far that town is from Dildo, Newfoundland. I mean, sure it's decently far away from Shaganappi but, oh my!

In HK you got names like Wan Chai, Mongkok or Pok Fu Lam, names that I don't hear in other cities.

Yeah, I thought I read that one wrong the first time. It's a First Nations word or Innuit. Not sure which. The pronunciation is closer to 'she sha shi', but still!

What are residents called? Shitters?

damn matt you just had to post all the wilmington one's lol. but how about the whole state of delaware i think we are the only state that uses the word "hundred". such as wilmington hundred, christiana hundred, brandywine hundred and pencader hundred.

Forbidden City

In HK you got names like Wan Chai, Mongkok or Pok Fu Lam, names that I don't hear in other cities.

Chinese place names don't tend to repeat. It has to do with language and also China's lack of colonial expansion. Many English names end up in North America (and elsewhere) because of the colonial influence. Hong Kong's 'capital' used to be called 'Victoria', and British-style place names still exist today, such as 'Admiralty'. Recently, there have been a few copy-cat names popping up in China, such as Xintiandi (from Shanghai) and Sanlituen (from Beijing).

Frogtown has been mentioned.
Minneapolis has Dinkytown.

Liverpool has Speke, Toxteth, Croxteth, Old Swan, Old Roan etc. which cound quite interesting

My home town of Whitehaven has quite a few unusual place names:
Corkickle, Ginns, Kells, Lowca, Pica, Rowrah, Bigrigg, St Bees, Midgey

How about Wooloomooloo in Sydney, Australia?

My home town of Whitehaven has quite a few unusual place names:
Corkickle, Ginns, Kells, Lowca, Pica, Rowrah, Bigrigg, St Bees, Midgey

A lot of those seem to be strongly Cumbric in origin (the lost pre-Saxon language of Northern England). Have been to St Bees Head myself, a lovely part of the world provided you look away from Sellafield.

in London
Hainault (?)


I first thought that it might have been related to the province of Hainault, in Northern France, but according to Wikipedia it doesn't :
The name Hainault was recorded as 'Hyneholt' in 1239, and means 'monastic woodland'. There is no connection with King Edward III's wife, Philippa of Hainault.

Theydon Bois : Bois means 'Wood' in French, not surprising for a town located on the edge of a forest. ;)

Hope that helps.

Interesting neighborhood names from my city:

Woolsey Dip -- a residential neighborhood with a two-block long commercial district named for a low spot on Merrimon Avenue.

Emma -- the city's most diverse neighborhood.

Head of Montford -- a small area at the end of Montford Ave

The Manor Grounds -- The Manor Hotel was one of the city's most elegant hotels in its day, and on the hotel grounds were several rental cottages. The hotel is now and apartment building, and cottages are cozy homes. Together they make up The Manor Grounds neighborhood.

Town Mountain -- an area of Beaucatcher Mountain where mansions look down on downtown Asheville. This is also where two of Asheville four castles -- Zealandia and Seely's Castle -- are located.

Hillcrest, Deaverview, Pisgah View, Lee Walker Heights, Klondike -- innocuous neighborhood names that could even be very pretty if it were not for the fact that these are the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. They prove our weird tendency to give the worst neighborhoods the best names.

San Francisco:

Haight-Ashbury
Anza-Vista
The Castro
Cow Hollow
Dolores Heights
Golden Gate Heights
Telegraph Hill
Visitacion Valley
Zion District
Twin Peaks








Now, I'm not sure if they're completely unique, but as far as I know, there aren't other places with these names. Please correct me if I'm wrong. :nuts:

London has some corkers:

Seething Wells
Spitalfields
Crooked Billet
Ducks Island
World's End
Ham
Isle of Dogs
St George-in-the-East
Welsh Harp
Tooting Graveney
Carshalton Beeches
Monks Orchard
Monken Hadley

London outskirts:

Bat & Ball
Noah's Ark
Pilgrim's Hatch
Knockholt Pound
Seal
Green Street Green
Leaves Green
Pratt's Bottom
Botany Bay (inland!)
Chipping Ongar
Fiddler's Hamlet
Squirrel's Heath
Coldblow
Grubb Street
Thong

New York Area:

Alphabet City
Co-op City
Hell's Kitchen
Ozone Park
Throgs Neck
Vinegar Hill
Dumbo
Meatpacking District
Sugar Hill

Telegraph Hill

There's a Telegraph Hill in South London

Hartford:

Frog Hollow
Clay Arsenal
Asylum Hill
Blue Hills
Barry Square

A red light district in my city Surabaya named Jarak (Jatropha Curcas), a tropical herbal plant. Ironically, there's no clear explanation or history that why the place shoul be named with it, but for sure the place is not 'healing' like the plant but 'infecting'. Oops, I'm not the member and never pass there.

Other NYC neighborhoods have names after farms or villages.

Greenwhich Village
West Farms
Fresh Meadows
Glen Oaks
Flatlands
Hearland Village
Bulls Head
Weeksville
Manhattanville
Mill Basin
Gerritsen Beach
Great Kills

Was the Greenwich of New York named after the Greenwich in London as they are both pronounced the same?

London has loads...

Wapping
Bermondsey
Shoreditch
Burnt Oak
Chalk Farm

not urban, but Cumbria also has a few nice sounding mountains and villages.

Blencathra (mountain)
Glaramara (mountain)
Helvellyn (mountain)
Skiddaw (mountain)
Kokoarrah (beach)
Watendlath (village)

as well as some oddities

Great Cock Up and Little Cock Up (mountains)
Wide Open Dykes (hamlet I think)
Torpenhow Hill (pronounced Trapenna, and transalates to 'hill hill hill hill' in four different languages)

sexmoan pampanga, philippines

Póvoa de Varzim - Portugal

Mourões - Big Moorish (plural) - From what I've read it seems there was a big wall surrounding the town area (known as Mourões), possibly built during the Moorish era, this is strange cause the Moorish didn't stay here long enough. Today there's no evidence of that wall.

Aver-o-Mar directly translates as To look at the sea.

Coelheiro Portuguese for Rabbit Hunter.

other areas (names taken from Latin):
Amorim: Lovers' place
Aguçadoura: shaping (stone)
Estela: star

Liverpool and surroundings:

Old Swan
Waterloo
Clock Face
Rock Ferry
New Ferry
Port Sunlight

Liverpool also has its very own Kensington and Islington, named after the areas in London. They're nothing like their London counterparts however (especially Kensington, which is an absolute shithole!).

Port Sunlight


So I take it this was the place that the ancient Englishmen discovered that sunlight actually did strike the fair isles?

Liverpool and surroundings:

Waterloo

... Not very unique!

So I take it this was the place that the ancient Englishmen discovered that sunlight actually did strike the fair isles?

Yeah, I checked the archives and it would seem a gap in the clouds appeared for 16 seconds back in 1837 thus giving Port Sunlight its name.

And Kensington, Liverpool is quite nice... not salubrious, it's very working class... but in a nice way, has some lovely cobbled streets.

... Not very unique!
Okay, not strictly-speaking - but interesting nevertheless (when I was little, I used to think the Battle of Waterloo was fought there :lol:).

@Xelebes - it's been almost constantly sunny here for the past month (save for a couple of rainy days about a week and a half back).

translated.....Fun Wee Fuck Street

http://zog.typepad.com/malaysia/pic14460.jpg

^^ Even the street sign appears to be suggestive :lol:

I want to live in that street :tongue3:

Yeah, I checked the archives and it would seem a gap in the clouds appeared for 16 seconds back in 1837 thus giving Port Sunlight its name.



I thought so!!!