I read an article a couple of years ago about the practice of making up place names. A lot of developers want to have their new places sound historical, so they come up with names like "Carter's Mill" when there was neither a mill there nor anyone named Carter. Sadly, most of these places had actual names that the locals used, but that didn't have the kind of "charm" the developers were looking for. The article was about how we are replacing our history with phrases that are really just advertising slogans.

On the other hand, I live in the Wedgwood district of Seattle, a charming old neighborhood of mostly single family homes and a sleepy strip of businesses. Its name was made up by a housing developer who built a bunch of houses there in the '50s. The name is now the official designation of an area about ten times larger than the original development. On the other other hand, I don't have a clue what the area was called before the '50s, or if it was called anything. I should try to find out.

John Peekstok