Is 'The Grove' a Unique Enough Name to Set it Apart From Other Developments of The Same Name?

This version of The Grove is in Orlando,Florida and features a new splash park. |
February 3, 2018 |  

As is sometimes the case, any one of the dozens of daily press releases in our email inbox piques the imagination. Such was the case when we saw one such brief description recently.

The email was promoting a new splash park at a resort in Orlando, Florida. While an addition to a resort a couple of thousand miles away alone was not enough to capture our interest, it was the name of the facility that drew us in. 

The name of the remodeled development was The Grove Resort and Spa Orlando. More specifically, the press release was titled Surf's Up at Safari Waterpark at The Grove Resort and Spa Orlando.

The mention of The Grove, is what caught our attention in the context of what Elk Grove's Civic Center district should be formally named. 

In the last few weeks the name of the development has been a topic of discussion for the Elk Grove City Council. While this discussion can't be called a hot topic, much less the sort of topic to come up over drinks and shooting pool at Bob's bar in Old Town Elk Grove, there are some people who have strong feelings on what the area should be named.

An unscientific poll conducted by the City of Elk Grove showed that among six names surveyed, The Grove was the most popular. Additionally, there has been the support of using that moniker from at least one city council member.

While the name is popular among respondents to the poll, Council Member Pat Hume expressed what could be characterized as a nails-on-the-chalkboard revulsion of naming area The Grove. Hume compared calling the area The Grove, especially to longtime residents, to revulsion San Franciscans express when hearing their city referred to as Frisco.

Notwithstanding Hume's abhorrence for The Grove, how original is the name The Grove? We put it to a simple test using Google while being logged in with a geo marker and logged out unmarked.

As you can see from the results in the picture below, The Grove in Los Angeles was the most popular in both examples. The Grove in Orlando showed up at the bottom of the autofill in the geographically unmarked search.



The Grove is a popular name given how many places use that designation, which it could be argued shows it appeal. Conversely, it could be said that if the city names the area that it will be undistinguished from several other locations with that name within close vicinity to Elk Grove.

Naturally, search results on Google will show any variety of options depending on a host of factors. Still, if you type in the term The Grove, chances are the southern California shopping center might be at the top of the queue in the autofill.

The Elk Grove City Council's decision on what the Civic Center will be named will have long-lasting effects and could in part be a function of the area's failure or success. Let's hope they don't make a knee-jerk decision and name it something that many find objectionable, or worse, take the milquetoast approach.  






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2 comments

Josie said...

Unique?? The Grove in Elk Grove....surely we can do better than that. How about The Greenback Activity Center, nothing more fitting than that.

D.J. Blutarsky said...

You've heard of the 'short-man' syndrome? You know, an inferiority complex where a short person overcompensates for their perceived shortcoming. Well, our leaders have a 'small-city' complex, where they overcompensate to make Elk Grove appear to be big and famous!

Remember when they hired the world renown avant-garde London-based architect Zaha Hadid to design the civic center? I remembered it as a movie title, "Cowtown Goes Global"! If not for the $1 million plus of taxpayer's money wasted on that boondoggle, it would be funny! Except this wasn't supposed to be a comedy movie.

Fast forward about 8 years, and now our leaders are still trying to put Cowtown on the national stage! We got taxpayer money paying the room and board for bicycle racers this spring; we got taxpayer money being used to buy a 100-acre hayfield out of town; we got taxpayer money being used to bribe Costco to come; we got taxpayer money being used to buy a brewpub building and bribe brewers to come; we got taxpayer money being used to bribe "high-end" retailers to come...

I don't really care what they call that civic center. Bring on that sales tax measure!

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