Andrew Leigh

With last week's launch of the 2013 Centenary of Canberra program, I'm particularly keen on the local angle. Portrait of a Nation, of which I'm a patron, will encourage Canberrans to use 2012-13 to learn more about the people after whom their streets and suburbs are named.

Of course, no history is complete without a counterfactual history, and that's where celebtrity suburb names come in. This is the game where you see who can come up with the silliest suggestions of celebrities after whom your suburb could have been named.

Earlier this year, I posted a list of suggestions from Maryann Mussared, and then called Twitter for more. Here are some of those that came back:

• @ArabellaSL - Pearce must be named after Guy Pearce & Russell after Russell Crowe


• Nicholas Ellis ‏ - Weetangera after hip-hop band The Wu-Tang Clan


• Karen Hardy ‏ - real housewives of the OC - o'connor.


• Policy Australia ‏ - Had Bruce Hawker double dipped?*


• Karin - Lyneham after Paul Lyneham (the late ABC journalist)


• @TinyTheCabbie - Theodore after the chipmunk


• David Mathews - Hughes after Merv Hughes

* This suggests another game. Who are the celebrities named after two suburbs? The only other I can think of is ANU economist Bruce Chapman.

Update: They keep coming.

• @MarciaKKeegan - Harrison Forde


• Ian Warden alerts me to this 2011 Canberra Times article, featuring adult film actress Paige Turner, Test cricketer Phillip Hughes, ABC journalist Russell Barton and retired English soccer goalkeeper Gordon Banks.