Compared to the streets of Manhattan and Washington, D.C., conveniently organized by numbers and letters, Boston’s spiral of streets may appear chaotic and random to first-time residents. But there is a method to Boston’s geographic madness, at least to a degree.

When Boston was first founded in 1630, it had so few residents that its streets were initially left nameless and remained that way until 1700.

The first street in Boston to receive a name was Hull Street in what is now the North End. The name was given by Hannah Hull Sewall, wife of judge, businessman and printer Samuel Sewall, in honor of her deceased parents.

On Beacon Hill, many of the streets are named for founding fathers and noteworthy figures in the Revolutionary War, including Hancock and Revere Streets.

The neighborhood now known as Beacon Hill was initially composed of three hills, and was referred to as Tri-mount, or Tremont. During the Revolutionary War, a beacon was placed at the top of one of the hills, to warn residents about approaching invaders, and the name stuck.

While Tremont no longer refers to a neighborhood, its name lives on as Tremont Street, which stretches from Downtown to the South End and beyond.

Many names for Boston streets originate from English towns, regions, or royalty. For instance, Charles Street takes its name from English ruler King Charles, and Cambridge Street is named after Cambridge, England.

Boston itself is named after a town in the English county of Lincolnshire, from which several prominent colonists emigrated. The word Boston is also a derivation of Botolph, the patron saint of travelers, which is where St. Botolph Street in the South End gets its name.

The street names of the Back Bay have a particularly British influence. The neighborhood’s streets running from North to South each stem from a different English lord, arranged in alphabetical order.

This pattern begins with Arlington and continues all the way to Hereford on the far side of the Back Bay.

Supposedly, the goal behind the Back Bay’s Anglo names was to distinguish the newly constructed neighborhood as an exclusive locale, attracting wealthy residents, since during the 19th century, at the peak of the British Empire, English culture was considered more sophisticated than American culture.

Fenway also has several streets named after alphabetized English lords, including Ipswich, Jersey, Kenmore, Lansdowne, and Miner, although these roads don’t fit neatly into a North-South formation as they do in the Back Bay.

In the South End, the cross streets pull their names from Massachusetts towns, and are arranged based on their proximity to Boston.

Milford and Newton Streets can be found in the Northeast corner of the South End, while the opposite side of the neighborhood is home to Northampton and Lenox Streets.

The construction and development of Boston took place over a longer period of time than most American cities.

In fact, during the establishment of Boston’s first neighborhoods, many other contemporary Boston locations such as the Back Bay and South Boston were still underwater.

Due to this staggered city planning, the logic of Boston streets operates on a strictly neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis. While this will likely be confusing for new residents, we promise you’ll get the hang of it eventually.