What's in a Place Name?

Today on Morgan Mandel's blog Blood Red Pencil, she asked 'what's in a place name?' Here's my story, or two... All my books are set in real places, but one book needed a fictional place. It's a fantasy romance, Fakin' It, and the hero is designing a robot to send to a distant planet. What to name this planet? I searched around for that perfect planet name, and saw that it was right in front of me! I'd bought a rug in Istanbul from a store called Ugur, and the owner's card was taped to my desk. So it became the Planet Ugur, and I made sure to thank Alender, the store's owner, on my website for that inspiration! One more fictional place was 1149 Park Avenue, in my novel set during Prohibition, IT WAS LIKE THIS. I'm a longtime fan of The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason. In one episode, his boss lives at 1149 Park. That was a perfect address for me--there's no 'real' 1149 Park, and it was my tribute to a great show. Follow this link to Blood Red Pencil: http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com