You could travel the length of Stockton Street in San Francisco, from Pier 39 to Market Street, and not hit a single major cross-street named after a woman.
Along the way, there are streets named for male generals, merchants, presidents, explorers, politicians and physicians, as well as California counties and trees. But revered female figures, in a city full of them? Not a one.
The same goes for Polk, Cesar Chavez and Columbus Avenue.
Like most cities, San Francisco’s street names are a reflection of its history, geography, planning and values, from the Spanish names for Yerba Buena’s dirt tracks, to surveyor Jasper O’Farrell’s 1847 city grid, to the developer tracts added to the map as San Francisco’s population boomed.
To understand who — and what — is immortalized on city street signs, we scoured library books like Louis K. Loewenstein’s definitive 1984 reference “Streets of San Francisco,” the work of online wizards like Noah Veltman’s illuminating “History of San Francisco Place Names” map and numerous stories from the Chronicle archive and other publications.
We found some surprises, some very odd choices and a couple of mysteries we’re still trying to solve.
Mysteries remain on the map of San Francisco. There are unsettled debates, weakly sourced myths and roadways with epic backstories that have been largely lost in time.
Like Green Street, which cuts a three-mile path across the city from the Embarcadero to the Presidio. It was named after Talbot H. Green, a fraudster politician and embezzler, who was born Paul Geddes on the East Coast. He deserted his wife and children in Pennsylvania and came to San Francisco under the name Green in the mid-1800s, serving on the first city council and becoming a prominent businessman. Green was preparing to run for San Francisco mayor when he was exposed as a fraud, and though he fled the city, a significant street still bears his name.
Other origin stories have vanished with the decades. Take Clarendon Street, home to Clarendon Elementary School. City officials and reporters have investigated, but no one has determined for certain if they’re named for a 15th century British Earl, a Gold Rush pioneer or a late 19th century sailor.
And finally, some street name histories are delightfully counterintuitive.
Here’s one to impress your friends: Main Street in San Francisco, which runs five blocks through SoMa between Market and Bryant, is named not for its central location but after a person. Of course, a man.
Charles Main was a miner and businessman who founded the California Insurance Company in the 1800s and built himself a grand mausoleum in Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery. He’s listed there among the notable inhabitants: “Charles Main, 1822-1888, pioneer, harness maker and capitalist.”
Special thanks to font developer Ben Zotto for letting us use his S.F. street sign typeface, Fog City Gothic, for this project.
Explore San Francisco’s most fascinating corners and characters with Peter Hartlaub.
CreditsReporting by Peter Hartlaub and Janie Haseman. Reporting, design and development by Harsha Devulapalli. Design and development by Stephanie Zhu. Editing by Dan Kopf and Sarah Feldberg. Design editing by Alex Tatusian.
Originally published on Oct. 12, 2025