What's in a name??

There are many things that i have wondered about over my time in the US but, in all honesty, i've not got round to writing about. One of these was something bought up my Father on one of our few driving trips around the city - namely, the American habit of naming almost anything possible. Okay, so naming buildings and bridges after people is fair enough - I don't have a problem there. Putting up memorials to people or plaques on buildings telling people information about famous people or historical figures who have lived there is also fine with me - even if the joke along the Eastern seaboard of 'George Washington slept here' seems to be somewhat ironically true wherever you go. What I find more perplexing is the naming of the roads. Now don't get me wrong, naming streets are roads like, say, Sam Rittenberg Boulevard (Highway 7 here) or Calhoun Street, Jonathan Lucas Street seems okay. But for some reason I don't know how thrilled the right person would be when he has a section of, say, Highway 526 named as the '...' freeway or expressway. It just feels a bit....tacky?? Is that right, I don't know.

What I find even more amusing is the naming of interchanges (junctions) of the freeways after a people - thus we have the Lucille... interchange at the end of the Ravenel bridge. And it doesn't stop there - dotted along Interstate 26 are a number of named interchanges. It makes me wonder if the so-named dignitaries were present at the ceremony of the opening/naming of their interchanges. And then, I have to say, should we stop there. Why not name park benches, or litter bins. Perhaps a few lamposts or traffic lights could be monikered for some local dignitaries (I certainly can think of a few such 'deserving' individuals). In all this, I am reminded of an old computer game for the Amiga - 'Colonization' whereby the score at the end of the game is interpreted into the naming of an item after the person - be it an insect, bridge, drink, card game, illness or you name it....(excuse the pun!)