CAN you increase the price of your property simply by adding a name?

What are the UK’s most common house names? Which names should you avoid?

Armishaws Removals visit thousands of homes each year and have been lifting the letterbox on the UK’s best and worst house names.

Added value

Adding a name can increase the value of your property. Studies have found houses named using words like ‘Cottage’, ‘Willow’, ‘House’ sell for a higher value than similar homes without a name.

The law

An act of Parliament in 1765 required all addresses to have a number and street name. At the time, house names were reserved for grander homes and stately manors.

Claire Cottage

To make a new house name official (or remove a house name) you need to register it with your local council. This typically costs around £40.

TrevDeb

During the 1970s and 80s there a new trend saw houses named after the occupants. ‘Malrene’ – Malcome and Irene. ‘Lesanda’ – Leslie and David… Leafy surburbia become awash with eponymous mash-ups.

Wits End

Naming a property increased in the housing booms following both World Wars as more people became homeowners for the first time. ‘Sunnyside’, ‘The Residence’, ‘The Firs’, were seen as adding grandeur. Names with a comedy bent also started to appear beside letter boxes, ‘Dunroamin’, ‘Bedside Manor’, ‘Wits End’.

Take two

Mixing descriptive, geographic and arboreal words has always in house names. You can name an entire street simply combining words from two columns;

UK’s worst house names

(All genuine house names)

• Ersanmyne
• Deja Views
• Llamehtdos (read it backwards)
• Never Inn
• Over-the-Hill
• Brixham Aughter
• The Dog House
• Morning Glory
• The Mad House
• The End
• Soddom Hall
• Windy Bottom

Most popular house names

• The Hollies
• Meadow View
• Rose Cottage
• Orchard House
• Sunnyside
• Corner House
• Woodside
• Oaklands
• Hillside
• The Willows
• Woodlands
• School House

For more weird house facts head to www.armishaws.com/blog