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Earlier this week, Regina housing developer Harvard finally got some names approved for its new Westerra development – but it had quite a bit of trouble.
Almost 200 names have been rejected for street in Regina in the past 12 years – 98 of those last year alone.
Regina street names can have to meet some pretty specific requirements before they’re approved for a sign.
A whole slew of animals names have been rejected – things like Barn Owl, Canadian Toad, Saber Tooth. How would you like to live on Snowshoe Hare Way?
Celestial names, like dusk, nightfall and eventide have been nixed because they don’t have enough to do with Regina.
“They wanted something with a more local bent, historical bent, or something more localized,” explained Dana Turgeon, historical info and preservation supervisor with the City of Regina.
The name of jewels like aquamarine and diamond were also turned down.
City councillor Bob Hawkins is all for different, interesting names. At the city council meeting on Monday evening he decried old “fuddy-duddy” names. He asked why the city is sticking boring names that attract no interest from people.
“On the other hand, what do I see? I see someone coming in and saying ‘how about celestial names?’ And chicken-licken the sky’s going to fall in. Well it’s not going to fall in if we use some names, if we get some interest, some colour, some imagination.”
The naming committee has to contend with some administration problems like the growing centralization of emergency services. As dispatches from all over the province increasingly go to the same places, naming committees have to be careful street names in Regina don’t sound like street names in, for example, Moose Jaw, or else a fire truck could be sent to the wrong place.
“We have to think of the entire south end of the province, for sure, and even beyond that,” said Turgeon.
Currently, there’s not much of a new for new names in Regina. There’s a list of about 400 names that have already been approved, just waiting for the city or a developer to pick them out.
