Branding your 'hood--White Flint Edition

According to an article in Monday's Washington Post, White Flint is going to get a new name.  For readers outside the area, White Flint is wedged between Bethesda, a suburb that looks like a city, and Rockville, another suburb that looks like a city.  White Flint is flatter (fewer tall buildings) and less urban (more strip malls and parking lots).  But, it is ready for a make-over.  White Flint's main attraction--a 1980s era mall--was recently torn down, and the county hopes to redevelop the site and surrounding areas for greater density and walkability. 

So far so good.

Except for that 'pesky' name.  Apparently, 'White Flint' doesn't evoke much beyond the mall of the same name they recently tore down.  If the area's going to change, its name needs to capture those changes.  Or so say the developers.      

I get it.  I grew up in a neighborhood called Sherwood Forest and my friends lived in developments called Wildwood and Rainbow Forest.  The goal of the developers who built our neighborhoods was to sell the houses in them, and one way to do that was by giving their wider neighborhoods sylvan, vaguely British sounding names.  I say vaguely because I doubt my neighborhood's developer wanted to encourage any real Robin Hood behavior.  My sister, friends and I were as close to a merry band as it got, and the most we took from our neighbors was a little peace and quiet on Saturday mornings.    

In White Flint's case, the name game has higher stakes.  As one developer explained in the Washington Post article, the area needs a new brand to communicate the urban transformation afoot in the area.  

Poor White Flint.  I can see the session with the life coach/therapist now. 

White Flint:  I tore down my Mall!  I'm really making progress!
Life Coach:  Well, none of that matters until you've got a twitter handle to sell it to the people.
White Flint:  How about '#I Tore down my mall!'
Life Coach:  Too negative.  We need something that evokes who you are.
White Flint:  But, I'm White Flint.  Didn't you see my insurance card?
Life Coach:  It isn't about you, its about who people think you are.
White Flint:  I'm White Flint, dammit!
Life Coach:  We're going to have to start meeting twice a week. 

Developers are currently bandying about several possible names, including Pike Corridor, Pike District, Market District, and Slate District. 

Perhaps sensing a lack of inspiration, the County also has a website where you can offer your own new name. 

Here are my suggestions: 

1.  It's always Marsha Marsha Marsha!

2.  Say my name *#%$!

3.  NO, I am NOT trying too hard.

On second thought, how about White Flint?!