Aspirans Garden Colony – Who is it named after?
Barbers Bridge – Given that there was never a Hamilton in Madras, why did this story of Hamilton-Ambattan-Barber come about?
Chennai – What is the origin of its name?
Drivers Street – Why is it so called? It is just off the Ophthalmic Hospital in Egmore
Egmore – Why does it have this odd name?
Five furlongs road (Velachery)- Why should it be called this? It is much longer than that
Goda Bagh – Where is the historic proof that this was the old name for Kodambakkam?
Halls Road – If the one in Kilpauk is after Col Hall, what about the one in Egmore?
Iron Mongers lane – Was it named after the trade or a particular iron monger?
Jeenis Road, Saidapet – Who was Jeeni or Jeenis?
Kolakarapet – Why should this downmarket locality in Royapettah be called so?
Limbdi Garden – Where exactly was it located in Royapettah?
Madras – Why did this name come about?
Neils Statue – Where exactly is it now?
Old Pensioners Lane – Pensioned from what?
Puduppet – Why are there two of them, one off Chintadripet and the other off Royapettah?
Queen Supayalat and King Thebaw – Where exactly were they kept in Madras before being taken to Ratnagiri?
Raja Kilpakkam – Why this royal prefix?
San Thome – Was St Thomas really buried here? There are disputes among Christians over this
Tinnevelly Settlement – Where exactly was it in Perambur?
United India Colony – Why is it so called?
Vodakalu Street – The old red light area. Which of the streets leading off First Line Beach was it?
West Mambalam – What is the origin of the name Mambalam (there is no historic reference to Maha Bilwa Vanam)
Xavier’s Street (George Town) – Why does it get its name? There is no church for the saint there.
Yeldham’s Road – When did it drop its y, and why?
Zam Bazar – Was it a wine market to be named after Jam/Zam?
Before you turn the page upside down to check for answers, let me assure you that I do not know any. Which is why I am asking them.
Egmore: I think I remember a mention of the village’s name in one of the inscriptions of Triplicane Parathasarathy Temple. Erumbur or Ezhumbur – don’t know which. Dates back to at least the 15th century.
Another one: Is Poonamallee really “Poo irundha valli” as some signboards have it?
Some years ago I was having a light conversation with a student of History & he mentioned passingly that the name ‘Madras’ comes from ‘madrasa’.
It is believed that some local Raja gave some land to some Mussalman for building a madrasa & this word stuck even after the city grew.
One will have to delve deeply into historical archives to get correct answers.
This study will indeed make interesting reading & perhaps evoke curiosity in the younger generations to take to the study of our own Indian History & origins of names of cities!
Ah, Chennai! Like any other paTTinam with the inflow of people from surrounding areas, a city sporting strange names…
There was a Chenna NAikan from somewhere at some time? There is a Chinna Naickan street in Sowcarpet.(which again is from a north of TN word meaning, the rich man).
Pudupet is an easy one. PudUr, puthUr, puduppETTai are all indicative of a new addition to any area. So, such names abound.
Raja Kilpakkam: an easy guess–to pin point a particular part of the large area of Kilpakkam where someone from a Raja family resided? Had the name been rOjA Kilpakkam, the guess would be that someone had a huge rose garden there 😉
As guesses go, was there (is there, however insignificant now)
a SivA temple in the mAmbalam area? mA ambalam (not chitrambalam)?
Added factor: our erstwhile rulers mutilated our words because they could not say them or were too lazy to cope with the entire length of them–and so began the slaughter of words (more so in tamizh than in other languages–a difficult one).
It didn’t stop there. They have been avenged by the natives in Hamilton becoming barber (?) and so on and on and on?
The older the names, the wilder our guesses 😉
kolakarpet: kolaikAran (murderer), koLLaikkAran (robber), kollaikkAran (one who owned some fields) pETTai?
Was there an insurance company (a vague memory) called United India Company? Then, the name makes sense.
Jam bazAr: If it was open just in the evenings–sHAm Bazar, and they sold jam too there?!
Additions to road names query-
What was the old name for Kavignar Bharathi Dasan Salai in Teynampet where SIET college is located?
Extra query on chennai-
Why is the lamp outside US embassy Security gate is always burning even during day time–The gate is located opposite Semmozhi Poonga in Cathedral Road
I believe I have already answered the first question. KB Road did not have an earlier name as it did not exist till the 1960s. It was a mud track which later became a road and got its present name.
As for the lamp – who knows, perhaps it indicates that it is the US economy that keeps the world going (or not going)
Kolakaranpet is actually Kula Sekara Azhwar pettai – it became kolakaranpet is the coming days
In royapettah, behind music academy – you have Pudupet Garden Street & Pudupet Garden Lane – generally that area is also referred as pudupettai as like in Egmore
So, the kolaikArargaL really are those who slaughter words–even the names of saints? 😉
That way even Santhome must be Shanta Uma – where Shiva pacified Uma and married her
This imaginative exercise makes each one of us a Doubting Thomas!
I had heard that the name Chennai came from Chennakesavulu who was a Telugu king that ruled these parts (not sure during what period). Hence the claim of the Andhra people that Madras should be part of Andhra. If true, it is ironic that the DMK movement changed the name to one with Telugu origin.
By the way, the mofussil folk only used the term Pattinam while referring to Madras.
Re: Madras, there used to be speculation that it was somehow connected to Sadras (which itself is anglicized from Chathuranga pattinam) a fort city, south of Madras.
But then, Madras by any other name is still the eighth wonder of the world!
I wonder…
Still, ask thIvira Chennai kuDi makkaL–they will call it the first wonder!