4. The Strand was named after a street in London
A view of the Exeter Exchange from the Strand in London. Image via Wikimedia Commons
When he opened his bookstore on Fourth Avenue, Ben Bass named it after a publishing street in Central London. In the 18th century, this street was a central hub for the British book trade, filled with with publishing and printing businesses. In London, the Strand was naturally a place where avant-garde writers like George Eliot, William-Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens, and John Stuart Mill gathered. The Strand Magazine, named after this street, was first published in 1891.