Since 1998, Lorrie Parise has come up with the names for hundreds of streets, roads, drives and trails that crisscross two Houston-area planned communities, The Woodlands and The Woodlands Hills. Somewhere along the line, she began to think that naming a baby is easier than naming a street.

“You have to strike the right balance,” said Ms. Parise, now the regional director of public relations and community relations for Howard Hughes Holdings, a real estate development and management firm. “You want the street name to be something people would be proud to live on. But you don’t want to try too hard with the name. If it’s too complicated or too hard to spell, you’ve gone a little too far.”