New streets often have their names chosen by the contractors who built them. Often a new neighborhood has all its streets named on the same theme such as flowers or trees. The names have to then be approved by the local municipality — which they won’t be if there happen to be any similar-sounding street names already in the city.

We can often learn a lot of local history from the names of streets that have been around for a long time for example it’s pretty clear what once used to be on Market Street or Fishmonger’s Street. Some names reveal a less pleasant history such as London’s Cock Lane where once cockfights (a fight between two cocks held in front of spectators) were held Bear Gardens where bear-baiting (a fight between bears and dogs) took place and who knows what took place in Bleeding Hearts Yard!

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