LAST UPDATED: September 2026.
As we offer a range of exterior washing and detailing services, including gutter cleaning, pressure washing, solar panels, and window cleaning, we have the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Calgary and the surrounding smaller cities. Occasionally, we like to share our experiences and locations with our 18+ audience. So, let’s put your knowledge to the test and see if you can identify the interesting streets we visit or understand their significance.
Calgary’s street naming system blends practicality with local character, which can lead to some truly memorable and unusual names. While many major roads follow the city’s grid pattern — with numbered streets running north–south and avenues running east–west — many smaller roads, crescents, and courts are given actual names. Some of these names highlight local history, geography, or cultural references; others lean into more playful or imaginative territory, resulting in names that make locals smile or visitors scratch their heads. Your list of rare and funny street names captures that quirky side of Calgary’s urban landscape.
Why a gutter cleaning company knows Calgary’s oddball streets so well
We spend roughly 200 days a year on ladders in front of Calgary homes, which means we have read more street signs than most cab drivers. That view from the eavestrough is genuinely useful, because a street name tells you what to expect before we ever set up a ladder. Blow Street and the older Brentwood crescents sit under mature bush and drop heavy leaf load every October. Cougartown Circle and the newer northwest communities around Falconridge and Cornerstone are mostly seamless aluminium on walkable rooflines, so they clean fast. Meanwhile the original 1900s grid streets in Mount Royal, Inglewood and Bridgeland carry hundred-year-old narrow eavestroughs, wood fascia and overhanging elms, which is the single most clog-prone combination in the city. So when you see a name on this list, know that we have probably stood on a ladder in front of it, looked up at the gutter, and made a mental note.
Calgary unique street names list
Historical & War-Themed
● Beny-Sur-Mer Road – Named after a WWII battle site in Normandy, a serious and honorable name.
● Klondike Ave
● Peacekeepers Way – Sounds noble, but also like it should be patrolled by superheroes.
Animal-Inspired & Nature-Themed
● Cougartown Circle – Either about big cats or a certain demographic – either way, intriguing.
● Bearberry Bay – Bears and berries? Either adorable or a warning!
● Bison Path – Feels like a historic trail where bison once roamed.
● Buffalo Rub Place (Airdrie) – Sounds like a BBQ joint or a spa for buffalo.
● Beaver Dam Place – Could be home to either Canadians or actual beavers.
Playfully Inappropriate & Funny
● Blow Street – No explanation needed. This sign probably gets stolen often.
● 69 Street – Another street sign that probably disappears regularly.
● Laycock Drive – The kind of name that makes teenage boys giggle.
Mythical & Fantasy-Inspired
● Valhalla Crescent – Where Vikings in Calgary go after battle (or after a few drinks).
● Mystic Ridge Way – Sounds like a place full of wizards and magic portals.
● Eldorado Place – ‘A place of fabulous wealth, or an opportunity to obtain it’.
Geographically Confused
● California Blvd – Did Calgary annex part of the West Coast?
● Toronto Crescent – A piece of Ontario, but without the traffic.
● Jerusalem Road – A bold name for a street in Alberta!
Oddly Practical
● High Street – Either referencing elevation or… something else entirely.
● Home Road – Simple and to the point – no one can get lost here.
● Physical Plant Road – Sounds like a place where plants go to work out.
Fashion & Style Inspired
● Chippendale Drive – Named after elegant furniture or shirtless male dancers? You decide.
● Bermuda Drive – Hopefully, cars don’t disappear into a triangle here.
Quirky & Mysterious
● Drury Avenue – Has a Sherlock Holmes vibe. Drury, mystery, close enough.
● Chicoutimi Drive – Fun to say, impossible to spell correctly on the first try.
● Angle Street – The biggest lie in Calgary street naming, because it’s not angled at all.
Other Notable Names
● Coral Shores Bay – Sounds like a tropical paradise, but it’s in Calgary.
● Lake Louise Way – A great name for a road, though the real Lake Louise is about 2 hours away.
● Sabrina Road – Must be some famous lady.
● Spy Hill Road – No spies here, we checked.
● Abbey Road (Rocky View County) – The Beatles would approve.
● Premier Way – Sounds fancy, but does it live up to the name?
Knowing street names in your city is important for several reasons:
- Navigation: Knowing street names helps you navigate around your city more easily. Whether you are driving, walking, or using public transportation, knowing the names of streets and intersections can help you find your way to your destination more efficiently.
- Emergency situations: In case of an emergency, being able to provide specific street names can help emergency responders locate you quickly. Knowing the names of nearby streets can also help you give accurate directions to emergency services if needed.
- Communication: When giving directions to others or arranging meet-up locations, knowing street names is essential for clear communication. It helps avoid confusion and ensures that everyone is on the same page about where to go.
- Local knowledge: Knowing street names can also give you a better understanding of your city and its layout. It can help you discover new places, plan routes, and become more familiar with different neighborhoods and landmarks.
Overall, knowing street names in your city can enhance your overall experience and make it easier to navigate and communicate effectively in your local area.
How Calgary’s grid actually works, and why the weird names exist at all
Downtown and most of the inner city run on a numbered grid: Centre Street splits north from south, Memorial Drive acts as the east-west divide, and everything is addressed in quadrants. That system is efficient, but it creates a quirk that confuses newcomers constantly, because a street’s name and its number often coexist. Eighth Avenue SW was once Railway Avenue. Seventeenth Avenue SW was Notre Dame Avenue back when the area was the French mission of Rouleauville. Midnapore’s Burns Street became 5th Street SW. The named streets on this list are almost all from subdivisions annexed after the grid was locked in, where developers were allowed to name roads instead of numbering them, which is exactly why you get Valhalla Crescent, Jerusalem Road and California Blvd sitting in the same city as 69 Street. Once you understand that, the “weird” names stop being random and start reading like a map of when each neighbourhood was built.
What’s the difference between a road, a street, and an avenue in Calgary?
A ‘road’ is anything that connects two points, while ‘streets’ are public ways which have buildings on either side. Avenues, meanwhile, have the same attributes as streets but run perpendicular to them, while a boulevard is essentially a wide street (or avenue), with a median through the middle. A lane is, predictably, smaller.
How are new street names chosen in calgary?
Many Calgarians are surprised to learn that street names are not selected at random. New roads are typically named according to themes established within a community, such as local history, geography, Indigenous heritage, military service, notable people, or natural features. Developers often submit naming proposals, but the names must meet municipal guidelines to avoid duplication and confusion for emergency services. This is why some neighbourhoods contain clusters of related names, such as military-themed streets, nature-inspired roads, or references to places from around the world. The system helps create a sense of identity within each community while occasionally producing some memorable and unusual street names that become local conversation pieces.
Bonus: 3 FAQ additions
- Why does Calgary have both numbered and named streets? Numbered streets come from the original surveyed grid; named streets come from later annexed subdivisions where developers chose names instead of numbers.
- What is the oldest street name in Calgary? Fort Drive and the roads in Fort Calgary’s original 1875 footprint predate the grid, and several downtown avenues carry pre-1900 names that were later renumbered.
- Why do Calgary street signs keep getting stolen? Signs with sexual or numeric innuendo (69 Street, Blow Street) are repeat targets. Calgary installs welded nuts and bolts on known high-theft signs.
More interesting related links:
● Historic stories and images of Calgary
● Calgary in the the Canadian Encyclopedia
● Haunted Houses, Attractions and Ghost Walks in Calgary
● Calgary Ghost Stories Range From Fun to Frightening
● 13 of the most haunted places in Calgary
Why choose ‘Gutter Cleaning on a Budget’ for your eavestrough and other exterior cleaning needs?
A small but dedicated family business. We are in the TOP THREE gutter cleaning companies in our beautiful city, and #1 by volume of eavestrough cleaning jobs in Calgary. Thank you, YYC. We’ve been working hard to achieve and sustain this status. Our spotless reputation is backed up by the CLOG-FREE & NO STREAKS guarantee. Your satisfaction is our priority. We guarantee that your gutters, eavestroughs, and downspouts will have no clogs after our appointment. We guarantee that your windows will have no streaks.
Wonder if you can trust us?
Over the years, we helped CEOs, doctors, lawyers, politicians, engineers, IT-specialists, tradesmen, and even some local celebrities. We helped single moms, retirees, landlords, tenants, new homeowners, and a lot of other people who are not comfortable with heights or don’t have enough knowledge of the rain gutter system. That means you won’t be among the first thousand customers who trusted us, but we are very happy to work for you anyway 🙂