Divorce Court, Psycho Path and Madman’s Gully are surely some of the most unusual street names. We track down other funny names that are firmly on the map.

If you live in Lazy Lane, Padbury, Worcestershire, and are bored with jokes at your expense, then cheer up. There are many more unusual street names across the world.

You could live in Madman’s Gully in Victoria, Australia, so named because it used to lead past a lunatic asylum. Or the sinisterly named Psycho Path in Traverse City, Michigan. Or the decidedly ominous-sounding Divorce Court, in Heather Highlands, Pennsylvania.

You may think you would like to live somewhere dull and respectable, such as Woodrow Wilson Drive, but you shouldn’t turn up your nose at streets with oddball names. For one thing, they bring a smile to people’s faces. For another, your friends will have no trouble remembering your address.

Other streets where you would need to have a good sense of humour include:

  • The Rue Pourquoi-Pas in Toulon, France – the street-name equivalent of a Gallic shrug. Closely related to Whynot Street in Brisbane, Australia.
  • Geekie Street in Perth, Western Australia, which takes its name from one of the early emigrants from Scotland, where Geekie is a reasonably common surname.
  • No Name Street in Turnersville, New Jersey – a seriously unimaginative name, but one found elsewhere in the world, e.g., in Sandwich, Kent.
  • Ragged Ass Road in Yellowknife, Canada, given its name by workers who felt that ‘ragged ass’, or dirt poor, best described their economic status.
  • Little Shambles in York, UK. The locals are no more disorganised than anyone else, but their street used to house a ‘shambles’ – a medieval word for an abattoir.
  • Bucket of Blood Street in Holbrook, Arizona – which acquired its name after a bloody shoot-out in the nineteenth century.
  • Kickapoo Drive in Livingston, New Zealand – not a street name to inspire pedestrians with confidence.
  • Skunk Misery Road in Haddam, Connecticut – given its name by a local man in the 1920s who clearly had a jaundiced view of his neighbourhood.
  • Peepee Falls Drive in Hawaii – definitely a street where one would need an umbrella.

Have your say

Tell us about unusual street names you have encountered around the world.