The book of employees of the Toponymic Commission of St. Petersburg A.G. Vladimirovich and A.D. Erofeev is devoted to the history of the names of streets and lanes of the Northern capital. From the book we learn why some objects have retained their names since the middle of the 18th century, while others have changed their names many times. The authors consider the reasons for such renaming, tell how certain names were accepted before and how it happens now.