Naming Streets In America's Fastest-Growing County

"Each week Trichak receives up to 50 maps of new housing tracts. Using a red pen, he eliminates street names he can't pronounce or spell easily, and ones that are too common or too long. Two weeks ago, for example, he rejected Bird of Paradise Street for a property in Wildomar because of its length â€" the letters would be too squished on a street sign.

...To show a visitor what slipped through before he took the job, Trichak pulled out a copy of a yellowed Riverside Press-Enterprise article. He pointed to a photo of street signs reading Thata Way and Whicha Way â€" an intersection in Hemet named before the city was incorporated.

...Naming streets is important and tricky enough that some developers hire marketing or advertising firms to dream them up. Laguna Niguel advertising agency C&M Communique Inc. was hired by Granite Homes to come up with tree-themed street names for a Moreno Valley tract called Beechwood. C&M's list of prospective names included Button Willow, Golden Larch and Silver Spruce."