According to the tourism site SF Travel, Lombard Street is named after a street in Philadelphia, although it’s also possible that a now-absent street in New York was the original namesake.

According to historian Nancy Leek, wealthy Gold Rush-era businessman Talbot H. Green was actually Pennsylvania scofflaw Paul Geddes, who fled to California to escape charges of embezzlement. In a Great Gatsby-esque stroke, so pronounced was Geddes’ local esteem that even after being found out, his respected faux identity ended up on street signs instead of his besmirched real one.

After the Civil War, the city named this critical Chinatown byway for Union general and President Ulysses S. Grant, but in the neighborhood’s earliest days it had been Dupont Street, christened for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, instrumental to seizing California in the Mexican-American War. Like Grant, Du Pont later served the Union in the Civil War.

 U.S. Pesident James K. Polk presided over the Mexican-American War. At the time this burnished his legacy quite a bit, but these days it remains another one of those awkward bits of history people mostly ignore. Even so, Polk secured California for the United States and changed San Francisco and the country’s destinies forever.

George Hyde was the third alcalde (mayor) of Yerba Buena. According to Hyde’s 1890 obituary in the San Francisco Call, “the place at that time contained a population of about 200.”

Rather than a president, alcalde, or land baron, Gough Street was named after a milkman. According to the SF Virtual Museum, Charles Gough had his confounding name (pronounced like “cough”) immortalized the most direct way possible: by serving on an 1855 committee conferring new names on SF streets. Respect the hustle.

Named for Millard Fillmore, the former U.S. president who admitted California into the Union. Fillmore was also the last U.S. president from the Whig party, which disbanded at the end of his term.

John W. Geary served as San Francisco’s first mayor and last alcalde. Continuing the mysterious relationship betwen San Francisco street names and Pennsylvania, Geary later served as governor of that state.

William Davis Merry Howard served on San Francisco’s very first city council. Unfortunately, he also established one of the city’s earliest vigilante gangs, which is interesting given Howard Street’s rough and tumble reputation in the past.

In 1846, John C. Fremont looked upon the opening to San Francisco Bay and dubbed it “a golden gate to trade with the Orient.” In records submitted to the U.S. Senate in 1848, Fremont wrote, “To this gate I gave the name of ‘Chrysopylae’ or ‘Golden Gate’ for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn.”

The Hayes Valley convention was to name large central streets after prominent locals and to name smaller byways after botanical themes.

Hayes Street may be named for any of a few members of the wealthy Hayes family, but 19th century politician Samuel Lupton wrote in the San Francisco Call in 1901 that the most likely namesake was Thomas Hayes, who owned much of the land around here in the 19th century, and thus the region was known as Hayes Valley.

Odds are Market Street was named after a street of the same name in Pennsylvania, because the engineer behind the 1847 city survey, Jasper O’Farrell, hailed from there. O’Farrell, of course, ended up with a San Francisco street of his own in due time.

Funston should be 13th Avenue but that would be bad luck, so instead it’s named for Brigadier General Frederick Funston, acting commander of the U.S. Army in the days following the 1906 earthquake and eire.

Banker Henry Haight came to San Francisco in 1850 and later served as governor. The Library of Congress credits him with founding the University of California, which means that San Francisco’s counterculture hippie movement found its roots in the street named after maybe the biggest square in the history of the state.

According to the Library of Congress, nearby Ashbury Street, forever linked with Haight in the public eye as well as by an actual intersection, is named for Munroe Ashbury, former member of the Board of Supervisors.

Spanish-American war veteran Victor Duboce was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1899, but served less than a year before dying. Moved by his service, his supporters launched a campaign to name Duboce Park for him, which then shortly spread to the street and entire neighborhood. Sometimes you really can win for losing.

Classic Americana author Washington Irving is today famous almost exclusively for his long stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

Theodore Judah was chief engineer on the Central Pacific Railroad, although he didn’t always enjoy the degree of fame and acclaim he has today. PBS reports that, in his lifetime, his peers nicknamed him “Crazy Judah” on account of his zeal.

A common Spanish surname, “Guerrero” means “soldier.” In this case the street is named for another alcalde, Francisco Guerrero. In 1851, Guerrero was “murdered by blows to the head” near 12th Street and Mission. His grave can be found at the Mission itself.

Upon California’s admission to the union in 1850, landowners hoped to set off a patriotic land rush in Potrero Hill by naming the streets for other U.S. states. It didn’t work, but the names stuck anyway.

Named for alcalde of Yerba Buena Jose de Jesus Noe. Like many SF neighborhoods, Noe Valley once consisted mostly of a rancho deeded to Noe in 1846.

General Jose Castro was several-times governor of various parts of California. Other than having his name conferred on many locales, he seems rarely to have caught a break in life. The onetime lawmaker was often arrested and deposed before falling prey to assassination in 1860.

SF Genealogy writes that Noe Valley was once known as Horner’s Addition after landowner James Horner, who bought much of the neighborood from Jose de Jesus Noe in 1853. Horner named Elizabeth Street after his wife, but no street in SF bears his name.

José Francisco Ortega scouted for Gaspar de Portola (see Portola Drive) and thus was possibly the first European to see the San Francisco Bay.

Named for Martin Ron, land surveyor, immigrant, and Holocaust survivor, whose widow spent 13 years pressing the city on the name change.

Sigismundo Taraval was a Jesuit missionary who traveled through the Baja region in the early 18th century

San Francisco technically has two streets named for Gaspar de Portola, who founded both San Diego and Monterey during his 18th century expedition through California.

Most likely named after 19th century landscape painter George Inness (note the extra “s”). A native of New York, Inness had no particular relationship with San Francisco or California, but his popularity carried him to local honoraries.

Jimenez de Quesada was not the luckiest of conquistadors. His disastrous 1569 expedition searching for the fabled lost City of Gold killed all but 80 of his original retinue of 1,800. Quesada himself later died of leprosy.

Originally named Phelan Avenue, after the family of a racist 19th century mayor and senator, a citizen committee recommended changing the name to honor 20th century artist Frida Kahlo in 2018.

Such a small and obscure street might not normally bear much scrutiny if not for the fact that it’s named after President Warren G. Harding, widely considered one of, if not the worst presidents in U.S. history and notable in this case because he happened to die in San Francisco at the Palace Hotel in 1923.

Excelsior neighborhood streets are named for foreign nations and cities, such as Moscow, London, and Persia. Excelsior Avenue was once China Avenue, but during the height of anti-Asian xenophobia in the 19th century the city scrubbed the name, along with Japan and India Avenues.

The Roman Catholic Church made Joseph Alemany the first Archbishop of San Francisco in 1853. When first appointed Bishop of Monterey three years earlier Alemany tried to back out of it, simply telling the pope “no.” His holiness clarified in a private audience that the assignment to California was not voluntary.