Are rural routes in Alabama ever named after current residents of that route? (live in)

[dann137]

Someone told me that Rural routes in Alabama are often named for the residents who (currently) live on that route. For instance, he said that a resident by the last name of Appleby lives on a rural route but because it is so remote, I guess it is the Post Office that has named it Appleby Street. I have always thought streets, roads, etc. were only named for people of some standing, dead, famous or wealthy. Can someone explain to me if a regular Joe would ever have a rural route named after them simply because they live on that route?

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by dann137

Someone told me that Rural routes in Alabama are often named for the residents who (currently) live on that route. For instance, he said that a resident by the last name of Appleby lives on a rural route but because it is so remote, I guess it is the Post Office that has named it Appleby Street. I have always thought streets, roads, etc. were only named for people of some standing, dead, famous or wealthy. Can someone explain to me if a regular Joe would ever have a rural route named after them simply because they live on that route?

'Tis true and I know of several... but usually it's not just a regular Joe by himself... it's regular Joe, Joe's parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, kids and/or cousins where a family has a lot of acreage passed down through the generations and a lot of those related builds and lives on that property, thus it's theirs and it is named after them.

And then you have the rural developers that have bought acreage, subdivides it, puts in the streets and names the streets themselves whatever they choose to call them as long as the name has not already been taken, but in many instances still, they'll just call it a court, road, street or avenue or add north or south, east or west to it... whatever way they can to subtly differentiate it from one already used. There are many of these in existence where the streets in the development were named for every member of the developer's family.

[southernnaturelover]

Yep, and the same in Florida. My grandfather's cousin (who farmed and owned lots of land) has two roads named after him, one for his first name, and one for his last name.

[BobbyHille]

I live on a street that bares my last name. My Grandpa didn't own a lot of land but he owned about 5 acres at the end of the road and since it's been in the family since the 1930's when they decided to name the road it goes to the ones who live on the end of it. I know of several others in the area that I live in.