Naming: Only 39% prefer the name LoSo. Top 30 opinions and alternatives like Scawoola, Craft Row & QuPa

What should Charlotte name the growing entertainment district area that includes Olde Mecklenburg Brewery and its neighbors?

Last week, we published two stories that drove the conversation in our city:

(1) LoSo: The death of neighborhood names in Charlotte [Thomas]

(2) In defense of LoSo [Wells]

Axios Charlotte Members weigh in: LoSo or Queen Park or Other? Results.

Other ideas:

“Scawoola. More fun to say than LoSo (which is too much of a copy of NoDa) and incorporates Scaleybark and Woodlawn, the two major streets of the area. Few people remember or connect with the old Queen Park drive-in/cinema, and it’s an unimaginative link to the the Queen City moniker.” – Judith

“Yancey. It’s geographically descriptive and to the point.” – Ryan

“Craft Row. A row of craft breweries/distilleries should inspire a better name then LoSo. Craft

“Downtown. We have an uptown. We need a downtown.” – Michael

“LoSE. LoSo just doesn’t make sense. You can’t flippantly disregard the word END. Pronounced like low see.” – Jordan

“Lower South End (not LoSo). Can’t we use words?”

“Olde Mecklenburg. It’s obvious. LoSo sounds like a made up name in a South Park episode, and Queen Park provides no sense of place in a city with every permutation of ‘Queen’ as a street or neighborhood name except for the eagerly anticipated Yaaaas Queen Blvd.” – Sam

Arguments for LoSo

“Short, sweet, and memorable. As opposed to anything with another ‘queen’ in it.”- Jim

“LoSo sounds hipper.” – Mark

“LoSo/Lower South End just sounds like a movement forward. Not that Queen Park is bad or wouldn’t fit but it has its own history and LoSo give way to a new chapter.” – Chandra

“More understandable for transients.”

“Catchy, easier to remember.” – Katherine

“I went back and forth a bit, but the QP sign itself sealed the LoSo choice for me. As with this election cycle, sticking around for a long time drawing attention to yourself doesn’t automatically make you worth celebrating!” – Rob

“It is labeling the area, not all neighborhoods. Why not ‘X’ neighborhood in LoSo?” – Travis

“NoDa as a name evolved. Let Lower South End just be Lower South End.” – Stephanie

“Words ‘Queen’ and ‘park’ represent Myers park area for me. It’s lower south Blvd area…self explanatory”

Arguments for Queen Park

“Queen Park pays heritage to Charlotte’s history. LoSo sounds like something you’d order at Starbucks.” – Colby

“LoSo is an unoriginal copy of SoHo in NY, SoMa in SF. NoDa did it too. But at least all of those define the area described by a direction and a street. Lower South End is not really lower is it? (Lower Sea level, lower class, lower morals). It is Further South of town than South End. Next, we will call South Blvd and Woodlawn LoLoSo. Queen Park is a nod to Charlotte’s history, is positive, original and timeless.” – Hunter

“Charlotte is not NYC (Thank God)… We don’t need a CLT version of SoHo, we are better than that.” – Amanda

“I actually like both names but Queen Park ranks just a bit higher on my index.” – Chris

“Doesn’t use acronyms other cities adopt – uses a historical name. Queen Park pays homage to our past while we push our city in new directions. Plus, that snazzy sign will be there to mark the entrance to the neighborhood.” – Heather

“The QP sign, while the theater that it represented may not be so memorable, was an icon on South Blvd for many years. I don’t mind the name ‘Lower South End,’ but I think the vulnerability of it being nicknamed LoSo gives us enough reason to cast this one out – lets just hope people don’t start calling QuPa.” – Scott

“LoSo doesn’t quite make sense. If it’s Lower South End shouldn’t it be LoSe? Confused.”

“I think it just sounds better. LoSo doesn’t make me think Lower South End and leaves me wondering what the heck anyone is talking about. When I first moved here it took my husband and I forever to figure what NoDa meant/was. Queen Park sounds more like a neighborhood/district. Side note: I work in that area and our office has frequently talked about how the it lacks a name. I’m excited for it to finally have its own identity.” – Jessi

“It sounds so much more iconic. I love it. (I live in the area and want a good name!)” – MaryBeth

“Plays on the Queen Charlotte history and has much more snap than LoSo. Every neighborhood does not need to try to be SoHo in NY. Let’s develop our own cache.”

“Outside of NoDa, Charlotte never been a city that recognizes names like LoSo. Queens park more in line with Cotswold, Myers Park, South Park Sedgefield etc.” – Kevin

“Because that is how us Charlotteans know it to be. Why change what you already know.” – Caroline

“Despite the fact that the Queen Park area was somewhat dangerous back in the day (80s), the large ‘Queen Park’ sign was one that everyone knew and everyone visited at one point because no other theater was showing their movie. I saw Back to the Future there. I think the history in that name makes it cool, and preferable.” – Robbie

“Feels more Charlotte. LoSo could be anywhere.”

“Queen Park has more of a legacy/historic meaning behind it compared to LoSo.” – Leanne

“I just said ‘LoSo’ 5 times out loud, and i didn’t enjoy it. Queen Park has a nice ring to it, and this is solely what I’m basing my decision on.” – Adrian

“Honestly, the name LoSo sounds cool and urban like something you’d find in another city. But, since Charlotte isn’t ‘other cities’, I’ve got to go with Queen Park (although queen(s) park sounds better).” – Justin

“Because we don’t have an Upper South End or a Middle South End. And Queen Park sounds more like an entertainment district. Of course some might argue that is sounds like a transvestite or cross dresser entertainment district, but those people probably wouldn’t come visit.” – Leigh

“It rolls off the tongue easier.”

Reasoned people…

“Let it happen organically? Why should I name it? Seems like something the people who live there should do.” – Miller

“Lower South End NoDa as a name evolved. Let Lower South End just be Lower South End.” – Stephanie

And…

“They both suck.” – Jenni

(Note: To participate in member op-eds, become a member, go here.)