What are these streets in Paris that have no names?
Why do some streets in Paris have no names?
Lane A/1, Lane AC/12, Lane AD/15, these designations designate streets for which no identification has been recorded. This is most often access to municipal workshops, slip roads leading to the ring road or tunnels. As these places were not intended to house inhabitants, no designation has been recorded. The system is simple: two letters of the alphabet, a slash and the district number.
But it happens however that these “paths without names” designate pedestrian paths or inhabited streets. Some are even right in the center of Paris, such as track A/1 near Place Vendôme. Street names are called for evaluation, and unnamed lanes are no exception. In 2013, for example, five years after the death of singer Miriam Makeba, route AA/12 became rue Miriam Makeba.
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How is the name of a street chosen?
Paris now has nearly 6,500 streets, lanes or promenades. Historically, it was the inhabitants who most often chose the names of the streets in their neighborhood according to the churches (Saint-Georges), geographical characteristics (bridge, hill, etc.), trades (Rue des Boulangers, Rue de la Ironwork). Sometimes, the sociology of the place could also designate the way, like the rue Vide-Gousset in the 2nd arrondissement (a den of thieves!) or the rue du Petit Musc in the 4th arrondissement, very popular with prostitutes.
No official map listed the names exhaustively, especially since some streets had several names that were transmitted only orally (from the 17th century, under the reign of King Henry IVon the advice of Sully, the roads and streets are increasingly designated by royal names: rue Dauphine, place Royale, St. Louis Island, quay of Anjou…). To put an end to the risk of multiple names for the same street and to cope with the expansion of the city, the royal power assumed the right to designate each street with an official name. Since it was impossible to start from scratch, it took more than a century to put everything in order.
Over the centuries, certain streets have been renamed so as not to be associated with a past deemed unseemly. It was so after the French Revolution or during the Restoration for example. These periods show that the names of the streets play at their level almost a role of history textbook: they return the honors of time and the official history.
It was not until March 1982 that the choice of the name of a street entered into the competences of the communes. A street can generally only be named after a famous or deserving person if they have been dead for at least five years. Each inhabitant who so wishes can write to the town hall of his municipality or his district to propose suggestions.
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Street names: do all countries use the same system?
Many countries and cities around the world have another way of geographically identifying themselves. If you have ever been to New York for example, you may have noticed, especially in Manhattan, that the avenues are designated by numbers. This numbering system was adopted in 1811 at the same time as the checkerboard plan to cope with the extremely rapid growth of the city. The same is observed in other historic cities in the eastern United States such as Philadelphia and Washington.
In Japan, the system is more complicated. The address starts with the postal code then the name of the prefecture, the district, the district and finally the block number to which your dwelling belongs. That’s a habit to take !
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