Cleveland Heights, with most of its streets named within a 25-year period many years ago, has a number of street names so similar that they have confounded the public since first platted. How much confusion like names must have caused over the years!

A trio of “cousins”: Idlewood, Inglewood, and Englewood Roads. Idlewood was actually the earlier name of University Heights, when Idlewood Village extended west of Taylor Road. All three names were part of the early 20th century trend to name new streets combining “wood” (i.e., for a forest image) with tree names or other English words. The ‘inglenook’ common to English-inspired homes of the era stems from “ingle,” a Gaelic word for fire.

Oaks were ubiquitous in our early years and, not surprisingly, we have Oak (no-nonsense tree name itself) Road plus Oakwood (like the club it adjoins) and Oakridge Drives and Oakdale Road – adding topographical suffixes.

Maple and Maplewood Roads conform with the first part of the same pattern, and Parkdale and Parkhill follow the second part – topographical. Corydon, Clarendon and Cleviden Roads sport Scottish and English, English, and mysterious-origin names, respectively (well, the last is mostly in East Cleveland, anyway).

Nordway and Northcliffe Roads do not sound that similar, but have the peculiar problem of being located so close together (both off Silsby) that they surely have caused major confusion over the years. Windsor and Winsford have similar names and similar type locations – both residential streets in northern Cleveland Heights, which cut across a series of north-south streets and graced with a series of stop signs.

Penfield and Renfield Roads are simply two variations of the same type British name, with Penfield more English and common across the U.S., while Renfield is more Scottish.

Delamere and Delaware Drives are both in Roxboro, but Delamere is a town and forest in England, while Delaware, a British name probably of French origin, could be honoring the state, the river, or even the Native American tribe.

Finally we have the confusion of Exeter vs. Essex Roads – both proud English names with royal connections. This writer himself confused them when speaking at a Community Improvement Award Committee meeting last year!