Most French towns and cities name a number of their roads after people who have made a real contribution to the area.

The practice is far less widespread in Britain, but Brighton and Hove has proved to be an honourable exception.

There are roads named after royals such as Albert, Alexandra, Alfred, Charles, Charlotte, Edward, Frederick, Leopold, George, Victoria and William.

A few take their names from dukes like Clarence, Cambridge and Cumberland while many more are named after peers. Ten streets are named after prime ministers – Balfour, Beaconsfield, Canning, Gladstone, Liverpool, Melbourne, Peel, Russell, Walpole and Wellington.

And the main shopping centre is named after another Prime Minister – Sir Winston Churchill.

There are even four roads which take their name from US presidents – Grant, Jackson, Lincoln and Washington.

On a more local level, many streets are named after local mayors, the prime example being Sir Herbert Carden, often described as the maker of modern Brighton.

It was also the custom for many years in both Brighton and Hove when run separately, for housing committee chairmen to be commemorated in blocks of flats.

This was all very well when the names were simple such as Tom Benson in Hove and John Leach in Brighton and the idea reached its peak when the tallest block in town was called Theobald House.

But Bob Cristofoli in Brighton thought it was wiser to use his forename in Robert Lodge, while Muriel Edelshain in Hove did the same in the flats named after her in Ingram Crescent.

Labour councillor Stan Fitch had a road named after him in Bevendean, even though he was a member of the opposition.

The ruling Tories also gave Labour’s Stanley Deason a school in Whitehawk bearing his name. It has since closed but the name lingers on in a sports centre.

Another school in Brighton was named after veteran alderman Dorothy Stringer who spent 50 years serving in the education committee.

A few sportsmen have been commemorated, notably the Rev David Sheppard, a stalwart for Sussex and England at cricket.

Comedian Max Miller has not been forgotten by his fans, who set up an appreciation society in his name.

A short stretch of seafront is named after him.

Author Rudyard Kipling’s name was given to public gardens near his former home in Rottingdean and to a school in Woodingdean.

Woodingdean is also the location of the easiest name to choose – Catherine Vale. Mrs Vale was a Brighton Tory councillor in the 1960s and70s.

But I hope more streets are named after people who did their bit for Brighton and Hove as this is a permanent recognition of what they did for the city.