Odd Road Names and Unknown Origins

What's in a name?

Fairfield County is home to a variety of interesting and unusual road names. Some in Shelton are named for poets, others in Fairfield are named after Hungarians who used to live there. In Greenwich, some streets get their monikers from all things British. In the Wilton area, some roads stem from Native American influences.

Others, still, are interesting but their origin is unknown. Such is the case of several Robin Hood themed road names in Stamford.

Robin Hood Road.

Friar Tuck Lane.

Nottingham Drive.

Ron Marcus, a librarian at the Stamford Historical Society, said no one knows the background on why those streets were named after the heroic outlaw in English folklore.

"No one has ever done a study," Marcus said. "That was one of my secret wishes to do a project on the history of the streets of Stamford and the background because sometimes the name that appears isn't always what it was."

Adams Avenue, for example, is not named after President John Adams but rather for Nathanial Adams — a local builder who lived in Stamford when the railroad came through.

After World War II, Marcus said the country experienced a building boom as many areas were developed.

"So these roads went up all over the place and the developers start naming them," he said. "Some of them it's pretty obvious they name it for themselves or a family member but some are cutesy names (like the Robin Hood roads)."

The origin behind road names is something that would require intense research and time. Marcus said the historical society would work well with anyone who wants to take on the project.

"We know when they were adopted as streets but the origin of the name ... a lot of them I dare say we will never know," he said.

See below for a list of interesting and unusual road names throughout Fairfield County:

Old Dam Road, Random Road, and the Hungarian roads – Hunyadi Avenue, Rakoczy Avenue, Apponyi Street