What’s in a name?

Ever wondered what your place was named after? Hackney Archives has some of the answers

By Tahlia Coombs, Cultural Lead for Heritage

Rabbi Avrohom Pinter Path was unveiled in 2024

Hackney Archives receives thousands of enquiries on many different topics each year. But one of the most popular is ‘where did the name of my street or building come from’? 

While it may not always be possible to answer, Hackney does have a long history of meaningful naming. This article will share some of the stories, and may inspire you to make your own suggestions on the Council’s relaunched naming hub.

Hackney Archives holds all of the Council’s records, among other memorabilia, and it is in these records that residents are most likely to find the answers. 

In the 1980s, Hackney Council adopted a representative approach to building and place names, conscious that its diverse borough had little representation in the public realm.  Opportunities through new developments benefited from names suggested by the Racial Equality Committee. 

Between 1985 to 1986 the following names were added into the public realm through this scheme: writer and anti-racist activist, CLR James; political prisoner in apartheid South Africa, Nelson Mandela; revolutionary and political leader of Grenada, Maurice Bishop; wartime nurse, Mary Seacole; and poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

James Baldwin, the African-American author, visiting the newly named CLR James library in Dalston, 1985

Although significant to the local communities, they had no direct link to the borough, unlike Schonfeld Square, named after Soloman Schonfeld (1912-1985).

Schonfeld Square, which opened in 1995, remembers Solomon’s brave actions that rescued many thousands of Jewish people from Nazi-occupied forces in Europe during World War Two. Soloman was the son of Rabbi Dr Victor Schonfeld (1880-1930) who helped grow the Adath Yisroel Synagogue and its community in Stoke Newington. 

The founder of Orthodox Jewish housing association AIHA, Ita Symons MBE, was rescued through Soloman’s wartime Kindertransport. Ita was instrumental in making sure his legacy was memorialised in the naming of the development’s central square.

Award-winning housing development on Chowdhury Walk, 2024, named after Homerton Hospital Consultant Urologist Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury (1967-2020)

At the Dalston Square development, Barratt Homes worked with community activist Charles Collins (1937-2018) to use locally relevant names on the housing blocks and new pathways.  These include references to the entertainment and music culture that was lost in the Dalston regeneration project due to the demolition of Theatre that was home to the pioneering Four Aces nightclub. The names chosen include: Gaumont Tower, Blues Street; Dunbar Tower, Collins Tower, Labyrinth Tower and Dekker House.

Since 2020 representative names have continued with the Hackney connection – including Brafa Square (in front of the Britannia Leisure centre), Rabbi Avrohom Pinter Path (off Castlewood Road), Chowdhury Walk (off Daubeney Road), and Joe White Gardens (Pitfield Street). 

All of these names were suggestions made by residents on the Naming hub. They also contain values of community participation, campaigning, or evidence of pioneering work.

To make suggestions for names that represent your community, visit the Hackney Naming Hub.