Men, saints, and north winds: the most common street names in Catalonia.

Barcelona106,942 different streets, squares, alleys, avenues, and boulevards are spread across the different municipalities of Catalonia. The origin of their names is "natural and spontaneous," explains Miquel Parella, head of the Toponymy Unit of the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) at the ACN (National Geographic Association of Catalonia), and is found in the descriptions that, centuries ago, the citizens of each place made out of the "need to identify themselves." Although there is a tendency to think that most streets are named after people, the reality is that most names respond to descriptions of the surrounding environment. "It wasn't until major urban developments that the need to name streets arose, since names no longer emerged spontaneously from the people. That's when city councils began to name them," explains the expert.

The predominance of descriptive origins in street names is evident in the data. According to the ICGC nomenclature, updated in April 2025 and analyzed by the Catalan News Agency, Elderly It is the most repeated street name in Catalonia, with a total of 1,364 entries. It is followed by Church, with 1,059 routes, and Catalonia, which appears on 609 plates. The list is completed by other descriptive names, such as Fountain, which gives its name to 536 roads, and New, present in 475.

These names can refer to different types of streets in the same municipality, resulting in more squares named Mayor or Iglesia than there are municipalities in the territory. If the full address is taken into account, the most common name is main street, with almost as many streets as municipalities, followed by Church Square, Plaza Mayor and New Street. The reference to Catalonia doesn't appear until thirteenth place, as it is widely distributed among various types of streets, with a greater presence in squares, with 212 representations.

Almost one in two Catalan streets has a name that isn't found anywhere else. A total of 51,925 streets have a unique name, which "reflects the essence of each town," such as the Plaça del Vapor Gorina in Sabadell; the Plaça Flors de Maig in Cardedeu; or the Plaça Maria Laffitte Masjoan in Girona.

Casals, Verdaguer, Companys, Rodoreda, Roig, and Capmany

The sixth most frequent street in Catalonia is dedicated to the composer Pau Casals, with 407 plaques bearing his name. Streets that honor illustrious figures are very common in the Catalan street calendar. As for the most recognized personalities, after Casals comes the poet Jacint Verdaguer, with 395 streets that include all variants of his name, such as priest Cinto either Verdaguer Belt. The President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Lluís Companys, with 286 mentions, occupies third place. Other emblematic figures from the country's history also appear, such as Pompeu Fabra, Joan Maragall, Antoni Gaudí, and Àngel Guimerà. Among the twenty most frequent illustrious figures, there are two of international significance: Dr. Fleming, known for the discovery of penicillin, and the navigator Christopher Columbus.

As for the most frequently mentioned female personalities on Catalan streets, three writers stand out at the top of the list: Mercè Rodoreda, with 138 mentions; Montserrat Roig, with 108; and Maria Aurèlia Capmany, with 78. They are followed by other figures such as the actress Margarida Xirgu (46 mentions), the teacher Rosa Sensat (45), and the anarchist trade unionist Frederica Montseny (43). Also notable are two international figures: the Polish-born French physicist Marie Curie, with 35 pathways, and the Italian educator Maria Montessori, with ten.

In fact, a good portion of female names have a religious origin, while men's names are not. Among the 500 most common street names in the country, 132 are dedicated to famous figures. Of these, only nine are women and fourteen are saints, while 72 honor men and 37 are saints. Overall, 82.6% of the streets named after famous figures (10,191) are linked to men—whether saints or not—while only 17.4% refer to women (1,553).

"The nomenclature dedicated to personal names is predominantly masculine because, traditionally, in fields such as science, literature, royalty, or the military, the protagonists were men," explains Parella. Street names are "a reflection of the society that chooses them," and streets with religious connotations have given way to squares dedicated to Olympic volunteers or personalities such as John Lennon or Mahatma Gandhi.

Montserrat, the Tramuntana, and the Llobregat Rivers feature prominently in the street name list.

Among the natural elements most present in the nomenclatures, Montserrat stands out, which gives its name to 470 routes with various variants, such as Virgin of Montserrat or other similar religious expressions. The same phenomenon occurs with Montseny, the second most common mountain range in the nomenclature (244), while Canigó is the third most common mountain reference (237).

Winds also play a significant role in the Catalan street calendar: the Tramuntana wind gives its name to 233 streets, while the Levante wind appears on 214 streets. Rivers also have a significant presence: the Llobregat appears on 101 streets, and the Segre on 92.

On October 1st, the latest major addition

According to Pareja, October 1, 2017 has been "the last big name added to the nomenclature," since, since the anniversary, up to 160 municipalities have named new roads or have changed their names to make reference, with variants such as October 1st, October 1, 2017 either October 1st"It's a paradigmatic case that represents the last major significant change in the country's street names, and demonstrates that streets reflect the political and social situation of each moment," says Parella.