Dear Editor,
Thomas Cuming was the owner of Plantation La Bourgade lying between Church and Lamaha Streets. During the last years of the 18th century he laid out the front lands with residential lots which he sold to various persons and the transports could be seen in the Deeds Registry with the name Thomas Cuming. There is no doubt that the name has only one ‘m’ and no ‘s.’
How did Guyana come about naming the street, Cummings and not Cuming street? Streets were named after Cowan, Carmichael, Albert, etc, and no letters were added to these names.
Could someone explain why it is not Cuming Street?
Yours faithfully,
T Pemberton
Editor’s note
The branch of the Cuming family who came here were Jacobites from Scotland, which is why they settled in a Dutch-owned territory.
The name was spelt in various ways in Scotland in the past, most commonly Comyn, and some versions of the name have two ‘mm’s.
There is an English name Cumming or Cummings, and it is likely that the Cuming family themselves decided on the nomenclature of the street.
