ABC News: Karina Carvalho

If you’ve lived in Brisbane for a while, you’d have noticed a pattern when it comes to how the Central Business District streets are named. Streets facing north-east have female names, each named after a royal. In the opposite direction, the names are male and also of royal descent. How did this pattern start?

The answer lies back in 1842, a time when Brisbane was still part of New South Wales. Tt was a matter of convenience for the British settlers to name Brisbane’s streets after kings and queens of England. “You don’t know what the native bird names are. You don’t know any Aboriginal names, that’s for certain,” historian Thom Blake said.

Read on to find out more about Brisbane’s street names!

CES 2018 may be over, but there’s a ton of naming news to report. Over at the Tanj blog, professional namer Scott Milano reports on some of the hundreds of product and company names that he saw at CES. He was “rather underwhelmed by the lack of innovation and imagination with product names from early-show highlights”.

What kind of names showed up? Some were throwbacks to the 2000s, like ForwardX CX-1 for a suitcase, and Vuzix Blade smart glasses. Some are overly familiar, like Gemini and Project Spark for computing. But there were a few fresh new names – click to read the blog and find your favorite!

On Jan. 21, 2017, 90,000 people gathered in Greece’s second city, Thessaloniki, to protest the inclusion of the word “Macedonia” in the name of the neighboring former Yugoslav republic. The rally was the first major protest since Greece and the Republic of Macedonia agreed to join United Nations-mediated talks this month to settle the 25-year disagreement.

Many Greeks argue that the name Macedonia implies a territorial claim to a region in the north of Greece with the same name; Thessaloniki is its capital.

To read more about this politically charged situation, click through to this articles at the New York Times.

A town in the United States has been named Santa Claus since the 19th Century – so what is life like there? The main street is called Christmas Boulevard. The main development – where most of the town’s 2,500 people live – is called Christmas Lake Village. In that gated community, which began in the 1960s, the main streets are named after the three wise men – Melchior, Balthazar, and Kaspar. Others roads are named after Rudolph’s reindeer – take a left down Prancer Drive and you hit Vixen Lane – while one street is simply called Chestnut by the Fire.

In general, the people of Santa Claus love living here. Click through to this in-depth article at BBC News to find out what makes this little town so Christmassy – 365 days of the year.

Kwaussie: The word refers to a person who is a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand, a New Zealander living in Australia, or a person of Australian and New Zealand descent. It was chosen as Word of the Year by the Australian National Dictionary Centre, because to the word has risen to newfound prominence during the dual citizenship crisis that has so far prevented six senators, one deputy prime minister, a senate president, and one MP from holding office.

But the citizenship mess was not the first time the word kwaussie had been used. One of its earliest citations labelled Russell Crowe a kwaussie, calling him “what you get when you cross a Kiwi who can’t decide whether they’re a Kiwi or an Aussie”.

Click through to the article at ABCNews to find out more about kwaussies and other Australian Words of 2017!

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is set to become simply Walmart. The change, which will officially take place beginning in February, is part of a years-long effort by the world’s largest retailer to get customers to think beyond its 11,600 stores. Walmart, based in Bentonville, Ark., was incorporated as Wal-Mart, Inc., in 1969. The following year, it went public and changed its name to Wal-Mart Stores. Today, the company operates businesses under nearly 60 banners, including Massmart in Africa, Asda in the United Kingdom and Seiyu in Japan.

The “Wal” in Walmart comes from the name of the founder, Sam Walton. On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City store at 719 W. Walnut Street in Rogers, Arkansas. To find out more about the name change, click through to read the article at the Washington Post!

It is common for people to change their pets’ names. But won’t it confuse the animal? An animal behaviour specialist says it probably won’t because most pets already responded to a range of different names. The way one talks to a pet is just as important as what they are named. The tone of voice, body language, gestures and facial expressions are just as important.

This article at ABCNews summarizes a recent radio program that looks at the issue, featuring Dr Kersti Seksel who explains why it’s OK to change your pets’ name. Do read the comments on the article for fun anecdotes about pets and names!

And listener Ken messaged the station to say cat owners should not worry too much about changing their pet’s names. “It just doesn’t matter what you call a cat … they absolutely ignore you anyway.”