Singapore's street names are one of the most diverse in the world, they come in English, Malay, Tamil, Chinese (and its various dialects), and even other languages. And because of the diversity, many get misinterpreted, misunderstood, or people just plain decide to give it their own meanings.

So are you absolutely SURE you know the meaning of some of the street names you’ve come across? We do the research for you and clear up the misconceptions you may have:

Battery Road

You think that this road used to house some factories that made Energizers or Duracell right? Nope. Battery Road also does not mean people were taken to this road and battered up.

This road was built over 190 years ago and named Battery Road because it led to a battery of cannons that were established near the current Fullerton Hotel.

Beach Road

Ever wonder why Beach Road is named as such when it is nowhere near a beach?

Actually, it's one of the most literally named roads in Singapore. As in, it was a road that was right next to a beach and sea. Back in the day of Sir Stamford Raffles, he used the land along Beach Road to build residences for European merchants. In fact, a sandy beach could be found right in front of present-day Raffles Hotel before the land was reclaimed.

Interesting fact – The Raffles Institution was originally situated at Beach Road, but it was called Singapore Institution Free School.

Cantonment Road

Many will associate this road with the police headquarters. You will also think that it has something to do with the Cantonese people - but what is CantonMENT?

Actually this road has nothing to do with the Cantonese. The word 'canton' actually means alloting quarters (like bunks) to troops. Cantonment Road was where a barrack was located for the East India Company's Sepoy troops in 1819.

Change Alley

For people working in the Raffles Place area, Change Alley will be where most of them associate with money-changers.

Actually, this place is named after the Change Alley (or Exchange Alley) in London where in the 1600s people used to exchange stocks and commodities. Which is quite similar to what many of the brokers and traders do in modern day Singapore's Change Alley.

Cheow Keng Road

No, you do not come to this road to chow keng or malinger your way through NS.

The road is named after Wee Cheow Keng, a Hainanese businessman and leader of the Hainanese community of his time.

Coney Island

No, the island is not named after the hot dog sold in A&W. It is not even named after Coney Island in New York.

Actually, no one knows why it is named so. All we know is that the name Coney has been around in Singapore since 1825. Coney is another word for 'rabbit'. There are no known rabbits on the island, but there is a bull on the island now though.

Kay Poh Road

You know what they say about people who live on Kay Poh Road. No they are not busybodies, they just lived on a road named after Wee Kay Poh, a landowner and managing partner of a large opium and liquor farm.

Mohamed Ali Lane

Who could fault you for thinking of the boxer first whenever you see this street name? Even on Google, if you were to search 'Mohamed Ali', most of the results you would get would be of legendary Muhammad Ali.

Actually, Mohamed Ali Lane is named after Mirza Mohamad Ali Namazie, Municipal Councillor, who traded in textiles, and was in milling and shipping

Farquhar Street

Nobody will mistake this street for anything else other than being the namesake of William Farquhar, the man we all read about in our history and social studies textbooks. Unfortunately, the road has been expunged in 1994 due to street alignment and site development work and no longer exists. It was originally located in the Kampong Glam area between Beach Road and North Bridge Road.

So why is Farquhar Street on this list? As young students, we always snigger when we read about William Farquhar because it gave us the opportunity to drop the F-bomb, but not before our teacher corrected us and say that it should be pronounced as 'Far-koo-wahr'.

Actually, the correct way to pronounce his name is really 'Far-ker'. Go forth and champion the truth!

Singapore

We know and love our island country Singapore. We even know that the name 'Singapore' was derived after Sir Stamford Raffles renamed Singapura in 1819. Singapura, which means 'lion city' was the name given by Sang Nila Utama when he saw a 'lion' on this island many centuries ago.

So Singapore only had two names right - ‘Singapore’ and ‘Singapura’?

Wrong.

As early as the first century, the Greco-Roman astrologer Ptolemy could have given our island the name of Sabana.

From the third century, the Chinese called us  Pu Luo Chung (蒲罗中), a transliteration from a Malay name Pulau Ujong which means 'island at the end'.

In the fourteenth century, in a Javanese epic poem, this place was called Temasek, or sea town.

Now you know.

Read more on other Singapore street names in this infographic to find out how well you know your streets. http://www.nlb.gov.sg/sure/singapore-street-names/

Always be 100% S.U.R.E. of the information you receive (Source, Understand, Research, Evaluate). If you aren’t, always do more research before you arrive at your own conclusions. Not sure how to achieve that? Do check out how to be more discerning with information online with the National Library Board today. www.nlb.gov.sg/sure

References:

All images in the article are from the Lee Kip Lin Collection. All rights reserved. Lee Kip Lin and National Library Board

Savage, V.R. & Yeoh, B.S.A. (2013). Singapore street names: A study of toponymics. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions.

Hack, Karl. Records of Ancient Links between India and Singapore. National Institute of Education, Singapore. Retrieved 2016-01-31

eresources.nlb.gov.sg/Infopedia

eresources.nlb.gov.sg/PictureSG

*This post fuels Mothership.sg so our writers don’t have to beg for a living (which is probably not allowed anyway.)