A who’s who of our region

Spectator’s online feature tells us about ourselves

Here, try this breakfast quiz: Who was Ellen Fairclough, whose name adorns a building in downtown Hamilton? Who is Burlington’s LaSalle Park named after?

Why did Hamilton name a street after Franz Liszt?

Where did Fiddler’s Green Road get its name? How did it become Gage Park and what makes it Cootes Paradise?

The answers to these questions about our local geography — and many others — are now available at thespec.com in a new project we launched recently called Namesakes.

It grew out of a long-running daily feature in The Spectator, telling readers simple information about the people who built our city and how places got their names: Who is the James in James Street? Why do they call it the Brian Timmis stadium?

By expanding this information online, we hope to accomplish a couple of things:

1. We want to make the information available for everyone for generations to come

2. We want readers, researchers, and community members to help us grow it, enhance it, correct it if necessary.

The interactive map has more than 300 entries, but we know there are potentially many more, and we hope you will help us fill in some blanks.

This is how you use it: Go to Namesakes at the upper right hand corner of thespec.com home page.

Once you see the map, click on various sites to learn about what is there, see a photograph or two and find out who it is named after.

The results are also searchable. You can, for example, search for Mary Hopkins, or you can search simply for places named after women. Or settlers. Or labour leaders. We hope Namesakes will help readers learn about Hamilton and Burlington and nearby communities, and help us get a better sense of ourselves, our history, and presumably, our future.

For example, there are many dozens of places named after politicians (Charlton Avenue, Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway) or business people (Martin Golf Course, Lister Block), but fewer than a half a dozen named after writers (Bull’s Lane) or religious leaders (Bishop Ryan High School).

There are lots of settlers but no natives on Namesakes as it stands.

As I said, the list is far from complete, but it has the beginnings of something great, and raises interesting questions.

What does it tell us about ourselves, and what can we learn from it in future?

Does the city, for example, have enough places named after women? Are politicians or bureaucrats overrepresented? And what of ordinary volunteers or unsung heroes? Minorities?

The next time we name a park or a street or a school or a building after someone, for example, the list may help ensure they best reflect the city and its growing diversity.

Do we only name things after prominent people? Do we choose contemporaries or historical figures?

Why do developers often choose local street names? Should names be for sale? Why do some names stick and others not?