We first heard the name “midtown” used to refer to a neighborhood in D.C. by a friend who occasionally frequented the clubs along Connecticut Avenue between Farragut Square and Dupont Circle. Other friends have frowned on the term, arguing the name was simply lifted from New York. We’re split on the term: it can be a useful descriptor, though we tend to shy away from the New York-D.C. comparisons the word invites. Do you think D.C. has a “midtown”?

Now another neighborhood is seeing the invasion of “mid”: In the last year, a cluster of businesses along U and 14th Streets Northwest have created the “MidCity Business Association,” and have begun to try to market the area as “MidCity.” While the concept of a business association, by any name, comprised of this geographic area certainly makes sense, at least one older resident we spoke to resents the suggestion of the name, pointing out “U Street has always been U Street.” The whole episode reminds us of the story surrounding “Little Ethiopia” that popped up last summer, where local residents resisted putting up a sign on 9th Street just off of U, where a number of Ethiopian-owned businesses have opened.

Of course, naming controversies aren’t limited to neighborhoods and streets alone. For the sake of market value, developers have been known to invent all sorts of fanciful names for their projects. Our favorite twist is adding “heights” to neighborhood names to stretch their boundaries. Particular offenders pointed out to us include a development in Glover Park that calls itself “Georgetown Heights” and a project we spotted just a block or two off of U Street the developers insisted on calling “Logan Heights”. The last time we commented on naming issues a commenter suggested another favorite naming slight-of-hand: “Realtors have a quaint name for the former swampland in Northeast…. ‘Capitol Hill.'”