Central Park West was named for its location, at the western edge of Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux‘s masterpiece Scenic Landmark.  In 1883, Eighth Avenue was renamed Central Park West.

According to The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Names and Their Origins by Henry Moscow:

Formerly part of Eighth Avenue, Central Park West was renamed belated some years after completion of Central Park; like Amsterdam and West End avenues, among others, the boulevard was rebatpized for greater status.  It already was, at 72nd Street, the site of the Dakota, built in 1884 and for many years the city’s most famous apartment house.  (The Dakota, financed by Edward Clark of Singer Sewing Machine wealth, owes its designation to its location, so far from the heart of town in 1884 that wages likened the areas to the Dakotas.) Smaller apartment houses and a scattering of hotels began to rise before the turn of the century, but only in the early 1930’s did Central Park West assume its present look.  Virtually unique among the city’s major thoroughfares, it has remained little changed for almost half a century.  (36)

Read community voices about Central Park West from the New York Times.

Columbus Avenue was named for Christopher Columbus.  In 1890, Ninth Avenue was renamed Columbus Avenue.

According to The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Names and Their Origins by Henry Moscow:

Ninth Avenue above 59th Street was renamed for the explorer in 1890, two years before the 400th Anniversary of his voyage to the Americas.  But there was more behind the change than belated recognition for Columbus: above 59th Street, the avenue was residential and people who lived on it wanted it distinguished from the part occupied by trade.  (40)

Broadway was named for its width compared to the surrounding streets.  In 1899 the Boulevard was renamed Broadway.

According to The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Names and Their Origins by Henry Moscow:

Named so because of its width, much greater in lower Manhattan in the city’s early days than it is now.  Supposedly an Indian trail before the white man came, Broadway was called Heere Straat by the Dutch and Great George Street by the British. Until its entire 15 1/2-mile length was given a single name by law on February 14, 1899, Broadway from 59th Street to 155th Street was The Boulevard; from 155th to 157th streets the Boulevard Lafayette; from 157th to 170th Street it was Eleventh Avenue or The Boulevard again from 170th Street to Spuyten Duyvil it was Kingsbridge Road.   (31)

West End Avenue was named for the entire neighborhood of its location.  In 1880, Eleventh Avenue was renamed West End Avenue.

According to The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Names and Their Origins by Henry Moscow:

The Namesake: the city’s West End, as it was called, which was gaining prestige with the creation of Riverside Park. Until 1880, the street was part of Eleventh Avenue.  The stretch from 72nd Street to 106th Street was renamed to make it sound classier  (111)

Manhattan Avenue was named for its borough.  Manhattan Avenue was first proposed in 1868, and begins at West 100th Street and runs north to 125th Street before it merges into St. Nicholas Avenue.  Intended as “New Avenue” when planned in 1872-1873, Manhattan Avenue did not gain its known name until 1884.

According to The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Names and Their Origins by Henry Moscow:

Manhattan is an Indian name for which supposed translations abound.  Among the more fanciful is “the place where we all got drunk,” which refers to an alleged drinking party Henry Hudson arranged fro Indian shipboard visitors.  But the carefully kept log of Hudson’s Half Moon makes no mention of this.  Another interpretation is “People of the Whirlpool”–a reference, no doubt, to Hell Gate.  More persuasive is this: in the language of the Delaware Indians, manah meant “island” and atin meant “hill”.  The island’s Indians called themselves Manahatta.  (74)

West 72nd Street was mapped as part of the 1811 Commissioner’s plan.  Designated as a “Park Block” it was designed to be a wide street aligning to the Women’s Gate, Terrace Drive, and the Inventors Gate in Central Park.