What’s in a name? Translations of Spanish-named streets often bizarre

In Rancho Penasquitos, the Street of the Children is within walking distance of the Street of the Grandfather.

Like many cities in California, San Diego wears its Mexican heritage on its sleeve, or in this case, on its street signs, which brim with Spanish words.

Calle de los Ninos and Calle Abuelito, the aforementioned PQ streets, are case in point.

For Spanish speakers, “avenida” is avenue, “via” is road or way and “calle” is street. A “camino” is a path, and a “caminito” is a small path.

It doesn’t take much driving to discover a slew of Inland Corridor streets that could elicit a giggle or two from Spanish speakers, or maybe just lead them to scratch their heads.

For example, Peñasquitos — which comes from the diminutive of the word “peñasquo,” or rock — is home to Calle Tragar.

While dictionaries may translate “tragar” as swallow, Spanish speakers — especially those of Mexican descent — use the word to describe glutenous eating.

There are streets with names that some might feel are more sinister.

East of Penasquitos Drive, Del Diablo street, lane and way make their home. Their names can be translated as “of the devil.”

Another adjacent street, Satanas Street, is Spanish for Satan.

Rosemary Anderson has lived on that street for nearly 30 years. A Christian, Anderson said she had no idea what the name meant when she first moved in.

“Whenever I spell it to someone on the phone, they say ‘Santana?’” Anderson said. “I tell them it’s Satanas and they say, ‘you got to be kidding me!’”

Anderson said that 20 years ago, members of a Bible study group who visited her home tried to come together to change the street’s name.

Anderson said she was disappointed when the city said no.

“I do have some great neighbors,” she said. “It’s a good street. It just has an awful name.”

Street names in other jurisdictions have more benign meanings.

In east Poway, those on Mirando Street can say they’re just looking. Nearby there is El Mar Avenue, which translates to “the sea” and Del Marino Avenue or “of the marine.”

“I wonder if in the past you could see the ocean from here,” said Lynn Levey.

When she was told that the name of Silla Street, a nearby street with an awkward, platform-like S-shape stood for chair, she said she could see why.

“It does look like a chair,” she said. “I can see it in my mind’s eye.”

Rancho Bernardo resident Douglas Hilt, who lived in Mexico for two years and earned a master’s degree in Spanish from a university there, said he has often wondered how some names came to be.

Going down a list of street names, Hilt came upon Via Pereza in Penasquitos. The word “pereza,” he noted, means laziness. He also pointed out Via Consentido, a street in RB, whose name translates to spoiled.

Hilt — who has a doctorate in Romance languages — noted that in some instances, like the aforementioned Via Consentido, names are linguistically incorrect.

“Someone should have taken Spanish 101,” he said. The word “Avenida” is feminine. “Consentido,” meanwhile, is masculine. To be correct, the street would have to be called Avenida Consentida.

“The question is, who dreamt up the names and who checked them out,” Hilt said. “There’s some of them that are wrong and we’re stuck with them.”

Allan Wake, an assistant land surveyor in San Diego, is also the city’s street name coordinator.

As coordinator, Wakes reviews the names to make sure they are not derogatory, or that they don’t repeat elsewhere in the city as to be confusing.

“The developers propose the names,” Wake said. “As long as we don’t have a clear objection... we OK it.”

If there is a question about a name, Wake said he asks the developer to provide its significance, or asks Spanish-speaking colleagues for their opinion.

The complaints, Wake noted, are rare. If they do come up — and Wake admitted there may be a possibility for objectionable names to “slip under the radar” — the City Council has the ability to change a street’s name.

Wake went on to say that not all names, even some that may sound Spanish or Italian, have meanings.

“A lot of subdivisions, or vehicles, have names that are created by marketing that have a jingle to them but don’t necessarily mean anything at all,” Wake said.

Espola and Pomerado roads are good examples.

Though they sound Spanish, these two are, in fact, a jumble of other names.

Espola combines EScondido, POway and LAkeside. Pomerado puts together the names of three old school districts: POway, MERton and BernArDO.