What's In The Name? How The Streets And Villages In Singapore Got Their Names

"Through painstaking research into historical documents and past newspaper reports, the author has unearthed many original findings of the source of street names. The result is a fascinating account of how street names first came about and how they have changed with historical events and cultural trends. Never before has such a deeply-researched and thorough account of the history of street names in Singapore been published. This book should not be missed by anyone with an interest in how Singapore history has been captured in street names, and will be a valuable addition to reference collections on Singapore culture and history." Hong Hai Former Dean, Nanyang Business School, NTU and Former Singapore Member of Parliament Since 1819, more than 6,200 place (street and village) names divided into more than 3,900 name groups were known in Singapore. Based on digitised historical newspapers, dated back to 1830, municipal records and Malay dictionaries, the origins, meanings and date of naming for many place names are uncovered. As part of Singapore history, place names known since 1936 are recorded in this book. Although place names are fairly static in nature, there have been more than 100 name changes. The naming trends transitioned from English to Malay and then back to English names. Discover that Toa Payoh was not named after a big swamp, Anderson Road was named before John Anderson, a former Governor, took up his job and many more new findings in this exciting book. This book is a complete listing of all place names since 1936, together with the most comprehensive annotations to date — a first in Singapore. It is also the only book of its kind that analyses naming trends. Information on the origins or date of naming was based on primary sources such as old maps, minutes of municipal meetings, Chinese books and digitised newspapers.