In Naming Residences, Only the Hip Will Do

Topher Cushman, who refers to himself as "the name guy" at Macy Development, said he read up on U Street's past before coming up with The Matinee, as the Sixth Street NW building is called, to honor its proximity to the long-shuttered Howard and Dunbar theaters.

"You need a name," he said. "It gives the building an identity. . . . People can talk about it, and not as 'That condo.' "

In other cases, developers are trying to evoke The Big City, as in The Cosmopolitan on Sixth Street, or The New Yorker, which is to replace the dreary low-rise warehouse at 300 L St. NE.

A development team putting up an apartment building at 15th and P streets discarded nine names, including Cornerstone, Bluestone, Oppidan and Obsidian before choosing Metropole because it was "chic and New Yorkey," said Carol Felix, a designer on the project.

Then there are developers who await inspiration that never arrives.

Georgio Furioso has struggled for the past couple of years to find a name for the modern apartment building he is planning on 14th Street, next to The Matrix.

At one point, Furioso said, he came up with The Cubist and The Razor Edge, both of which were scrapped. At another, he thought of Stage Right, in honor of the Studio Theatre up the street. But only one person endorsed that idea.

"My girlfriend," Furioso said.

He has since returned to the drawing board.