WHAT'S IN A NAME: A family, a movie and a dog
Aug. 13—Editor's note: This is part of a 20-story series titled "What's in a name?" completed by Pioneer reporters for our 2022 Annual Report. Read more of the section by clicking the embed at the bottom of this article.
When Dick Gregg was developing property on the west end of Bemidji just south of Division Street, there were two new streets that needed to be named.
A city official gave him the chance to come up with those names.
Gregg said he asked the official, "Does it have to make sense?" She said, "No, you can name it whatever you want."
So he did. The main north-south street became Mag Seven Court. A short side road became Mikrantip Road.
"When the gal called me I hadn't figured out what I wanted to call it yet," Gregg said. "But I was trying to think of a family deal. I have seven grandkids. I liked the movie 'The Magnificent Seven.' So I said why don't we call it the 'Magnificent Seven.' It has to be court because there's a cul-de-sac down there."
The official advised Gregg that the name was too long to fit on the street sign, so he decided to abbreviate it to Mag Seven.
"So it's named after my grandkids, but also including my dog Magnum," he said.
How about Mikrantip?
Gregg's three children are Mike, Randy and Tippy. So he took the first three letters of each name for the street name. Now both streets have family ties.
"I've never had a street named after me, but my kids have," Gregg said. "And my grandkids."
