Friday, April 14, 2006 | 7:19 a.m.
Judging by the names of Las Vegas communities, we live in Italian villas, or in the hills of Scotland, or in homes overlooking meadows, forests or the Pacific Ocean.
In truth, the planned community of Pacific Greens is 280 miles from the closest Pacific harbor, Southern Highlands Golf Club is not quite as bedewed as the links of Scotland's St. Andrews, and while Forest Hills has trees - and is indeed lovely - they muffle the traffic noise from the not-so-bucolic U.S. 95.
But to the marketing minds who name our various community oases, reality isn't an obstacle. The titling of tract homes is meant to invoke old-world charm, wealth, Americana and, occasionally, geography.
As for the water-based names? Blame Californians, said Realtor Jim McEachern, who has sold homes in the valley for 12 years.
"Reminds them of their childhoods, I guess," he said.
McEachern keeps a rough list of 1,341 Las Vegas subdivisions - rough because the name on county records often differs from what the developer used, rough because construction outpaces it. Ninety of McEachern's names are aquatic, including 23 creeks, 13 coves and three corals.
Nick Parks, marketing director for homebuilder Pulte, explained why damp sells in the desert.
"Water has a positive connotation," he said. "Most people would like to live near water, even if they don't. It's appealing even if it's not realistic."
Parks was quick to add, however, that he doesn't believe Pulte has any water-named communities.
Moisture, of course, is relative. When thirsty Spaniards traveled through the valley on what they called a "journey of death," they discovered springs and grasses and named the area "Las Vegas," or "the meadows."
The depth of irony in that might boggle the mind. But it serves as a nifty precursor to our City of Perpetual Reinvention. We can make this place what we want, and our success would make the Spaniards proud.
It also explains why developers are so taxed in trying to find new and alluring names. They are building houses at an astonishing rate, with more than 450 subdivisions under construction.
Some names draw on pure fantasy. Others are loosely derived from actual geographic features or are chosen for their marketing value.
Parks, who picks names for Pulte, said he had a particularly hard time with one nondescript parcel before he settled on "Desert Crest."
"So, 'desert' because it's in the desert," he said, "and 'crest' because it's sort of slightly higher than the area around it."
Pam Banaszak, who names neighborhoods for Lennar Homes, said she tries "to come up with something buyers can relate to ... Sometimes I just pull out a world atlas and look for a pleasing name.
"It all comes out of my brain. My creative brain - the right side of my brain. There's no science to this. It all comes back to marketing."
Banaszak said she was especially proud of picking "Glenhaven" for a community in the Southern Highlands because it stayed with the British and golfing themes of the master-planned development.
"I like foreign names," Banaszak said. "Everyone's done the desert thing - Desert Canyon, da-da-da. I like to bring a little more culture into it."
Parks said that sometimes a developer might make up names that sound exotic, citing Pavona, Salerno and Treviso in the Aliante development.
"They sound inviting, they sound ethnic, they sound Italian and they sound luxurious," Parks said. "We made them up."
(Actually, Pavona, Salerno and Treviso are real Italian cities, which Parks acknowledged with a laugh, explaining that at the moment, he couldn't recall the fake names.)
As home prices rise in the valley, developers are naming more and more of what Parks calls "high-price point buyers" - people spending over $500,000 on a home.
"We'll try to make the names consistent with a buyer's expectation for the community," he said. "Take the villa series. When people think 'villa,' they think of large homes. 'I live in Villa Palma' - 'Oh, he's in a villa. It must be huge.' "
"Villa" is one of the most popular names on McEachern's list, tying "ridge" for first place with 69 uses.
McEachern said he suspects that the process of adding extra E's to names - where "point" becomes "pointe" -serves the same function as foreign names. "The price goes up according to whether the E is there or not."
"Heritage" and "estates" are also pricey names, Banaszak said, as are stone names such as "Granite Ridge."
"I think the strength of rock generates a strong basis for homes."
Not everyone is convinced.
"If you ask the residents," McEachern said, "they probably don't know what it's called and say, 'Just take a left at the Shell station.' "
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