How Did Your Street Gets Its Name?

Unlike U2′s song “Where The Streets Have No Name”, the streets in most Northern Virginia neighborhoods DO have names. But you might be surprised to find out where the names come from!

Take for example “Alliwells Court” and “South Erin Drive” in the Wendover Oaks neighborhood in Oakton. This subdivision was built a number of years ago by one of the builders The Belt Team represents. Allison & Erin Wells are two of the builder’s granddaughters. When you combine Allison’s first name and last name, you get “Alliwells”. So – “Alliwells Court” became one of the new streets in the neighborhood. Our builder did not want to leave Erin out, so she got her own street too: South Erin Drive!

Another example is “Brenner Court” in the Bennett Kiln neighborhood in Vienna. Bet you can’t guess this one. Nope – Brenner is not the builder’s son’s name or even grandson’s name. It’s his DOG’S name! How did that happen? Well, when a builder is developing a neighborhood, he has to submit a list of possible street names to Fairfax County. The County checks the names, rules out duplicates and then issues the street names. In this case, the builder submitted 15 street names and then jokingly said “and if none of those are available, name the street after my dog Brenner“. And so – we have Brenner Court in Vienna.

A third example is “Ceret Court” in Vienna. I’ll bet you didn’t know that “back in the day” Vienna had a Sister City in Ceret, France. How do we know that? Well, one of The Belt Team members was an exchange student from Vienna to Ceret back in 1979. Ceret is a small town just like Vienna and is located in Southern France. You might recognize Pablo Picasso as one of Ceret’s famous inhabitants of the early 20th century.

It’s fun stories like these that are a by-product of being in the real estate business for so many years. And why we love helping our clients buy & sell homes in Northern Virginia. There’s more to real estate than just the numbers. It’s about people, your lives, your families & your dreams.

For more, contact The Belt Team at (703) 242-3975.