Cool Neighbourhood Names

[hauntedheadnc]

East West Asheville, whose magnificence can be viewed here as well as here.

I'm also partial to The Block, Oteen, Town Mountain, and Horney Heights.

[KevinFromTexas]

I've always liked the name Zilker. It's the name of Austin's main city park, named after Andrew Zilker, who donated the land to the city in 1917. The neighborhood adjacent to the park also carries the name.

[Comrade]

SugarHouse in Salt Lake City is a pretty cool name. It was named after a sugar beet test factory.

SLC also has People's Freeway, which is an odd name. The neighborhood is, you guessed it, right next to the freeway.

[StethJeff]

Tenderloin, Dogpatch, Gaslamp Quarter, Echo Park, Eagle Rock, Panorama City, Studio City, Tarzana, Miracle Mile, Causeway Bay, Fish Hoek, Invalides, Sultanahmet, Boat Quay

[huggkruka]

Swedish university town Lund has a nice naming system in which many neighbourhoods have the epiteth "the happiness" or "the joy", Lyckan. The happiness of Butter, The happiness of Parrots, The happiness of Grinders to name a few. Of course, these are old names whose original meaning was something else, but this is what they sound like today.

There's also a residential area named after Genghis Kahn:
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djingis_Khan

[muppet]

London areas (not street names)

Pimlico

Belgravia

Fitzrovia

Elephant & Castle

Piccadilly Circus

Imperial Wharf
Carshalton Beeches
Soho (the original!)
Vale of Health
Millennium Village
Maida Vale
Odessa Wharf
Canary Wharf
Canada Water
East India
Cyprus
Jamaica
Maryland
Castelnau
Crossness
Star Lane
Seven Sisters
Seven Kings
Theobalds Grove
De Beauvoir Town
East Sheen
Gidea Park
Chalfont & Latimer
Bermondsey
Perivale
Carpenders Park
Enfield Chase
Ponders End
White Hart Lane
Arnos Grove
Burnt Oak
Old Oak Common
Honor Oak
Gospel Oak
The Hale
Havering-Atte-Bower
Angel
West Silvertown
St Mary Cray
Crystal Palace
Maze Hill
Belvedere
Falconwood
Oval Square
Green Street Green
Shepherds Bush Market
Boston Manor
Therapia
Whyteleafe
White City
Dollis Hill
Pudding Mill
Leaves Green
Temple
Chalk Farm
Swiss Cottage
Mornington Crescent
Strawberry Hill
Gipsy Hill
Denmark Hil
Shortlands
Eden Bridge
Sandilands
Marylebone
Forestdale
St Mary Colechurch

Not so salubrious sounding

Execution Dock
Gallows Corner
Shooters Hill
Mudchute
Titty Ho
Cockfosters
Pratts Bottom
Locksbottom
Gunnersbury
Frognal
Foots Cray
Isle of Dogs
Barking
Crook Log
Bulls Cross
Cudham
Downe
Freezywater
Puddle Dock
Eel Pie Island
Wormwood Scrubs
Cheapside
The Wrythe
Ham


In terms of street names it gets way more bizarre and hugely historical, like Bleeding Heart Yard (romantic meeting point but actually named after a grisly, unsolved murder of a woman in the 1500s) - they even had a Gropec*nt Lane until it got renamed. This is near me:

[Acajack]

I like Foggy Bottom in DC.

[chris08876]

Ironbound neighborhood in Newark,NJ is called "down neck" because of its shape/appearance due to the Passaic River.

Newark has the nickname, "Brick City".

[Swede]

Originally Posted by huggkruka

Swedish university town Lund has a nice naming system in which many neighbourhoods have the epiteth "the happiness" or "the joy", Lyckan. The happiness of Butter, The happiness of Parrots, The happiness of Grinders to name a few. Of course, these are old names whose original meaning was something else, but this is what they sound like today.

There's also a residential area named after Genghis Kahn:
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djingis_Khan

Are we sure it's named for the king of kings and not for these guys?
• Video Link

Stockholm has plenty of names that if translated from what they sound like in modern Swedish are pretty cool or at least fun.
Coffin (Kista - I grew up there)
the Sack Pain (Pungpinan)
the Rose Law (Roslagen)
Exhale (Blåsut)
Pussyyes (Fittja)

[Gantz]

For Brooklyn, I'd say DUMBO, Red Hook, and Gravesend.
For the Bronx, I like Van Nest.
and for Manhattan I like Hell's Kitchen and Marble Hill.

[MonkeyRonin]

Most of London's boroughs and neighbourhoods just roll off the tongue beautifully. Brixton, Hackney, Croydon, Hounslow, Lewisham, Bexley, Harrow, Tottenham, Southwark, and so on.

[brickell]

Miami - Brickell (duh), Coconut Grove, Allapattah, Lemon City (technically, more commonly called Little Haiti) and my favorite, The Roads.

Any neighborhood that starts with "The" is a winner in my book.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Mott Haven, Rockaway

[Centropolis]

i live in dogtown, in st. louis, in the "hi-pointe" section.

[chris08876]

Intercourse, Pennsylvania:

Intercourse (population: 1,274 as of 2010 census) is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in Leacock Township, Lancaster County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, 10 miles (16 km) east of Lancaster on Pennsylvania Route 340. Intercourse is a popular site for tourists because of its location in "Amish country" and its sexually suggestive name. The movie Witness was filmed in Intercourse as well as other parts of the surrounding area, and For Richer or Poorer was set there, though not filmed in Intercourse. Because of the town's unusual name, the sign posts for the town are frequently targeted by thieves.

================================
http://www.intercoursevillage.com/town.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercourse,_Pennsylvania

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

Nashville has a neighborhood called "The Nations"...that's one of my favorite neighborhood names I've encountered.

OT, but i always thought it cool that nashville had a neighborhood called germantown. pretty unusual for a southern city.

some of my favs for atl are blandtown, just us, druid hills.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Mott Haven, Rockaway

haha ny might take the cake on the most uncool neighborhood names like new dorp beach, great kills, sheepshead bay, ozone park, flushing, the 'burg (eww! ) etc., along with thee absolute most annoying real estate crazed trendy urban neighborhood moniker of cities around the country in soho due to it's spinoffs elsewhere.

that said, i dk about cool, but it is at least pleasant to say a few neighborhood names like bed-stuy, jamaica, gramercy, cypress hills, morningside heights and yep rockaway and a maybe a few others. to pick just one i would say spuyten duyvil is pretty interesting.

[jg6544]

"Cow Hollow" in San Francisco.

[tech12]

I always thought "Visitacion Valley" in SF was kind of a cool/weird/unique name.

The area used to be called "Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo", back when it was part of Mexico.

Originally Posted by fflint

"Pill Hill" is common. Oakland and Seattle have one each. I'm sure there are more.

There's an unofficial "Pill Hill" in San Francisco too, but it refers to a part of the Tenderloin, rather than an entire neighborhood. You can guess how it got its name (hint: it involves a hill, and an abundance of drug dealers who sell pills).

[shivtim]

Cabbagetown, Castleberry Hill, and Sweet Auburn in Atlanta.