Only in San Francisco does Front Street front — nothing. And First Street misses actually being the Financial District’s first street by a half-dozen blocks.

San Francisco’s thousands of alleys, streets and byzantine culs-de-sac archive the city’s history in their names. They chronicle a waterfront that has since been expanded with landfill and immortalize the Gold Rush prostitutes, criminals, politicians and military commanders that carved San Francisco out of sand dunes. There’s a street named for the first mayor and the first commander of the Presidio.

But few thoroughfares have been added to the map in recent history. In fact, city and county surveyor Bruce Storrs can think of only a handful of streets that have been constructed in his 11 years on the job. but with massive redevelopment projects at Treasure Island, Mission Rock and in the Bayview under way, a slew of new street names will soon be funneling through City Hall.

“There is such limited undeveloped area in San Francisco that it’s very rare to put in a new street that isn’t a continuation of an old street,” Storrs said. “There just aren’t many subdivisions creating streets from scratch. We are about to get busy.”

About 20 streets will be added on Treasure Island, and another three will be added at Candlestick Point. Developers are often the ones to choose the new names. For example, in the early 1930s, real estate tycoons and brothers Bill and Henry Stoneson — clearly known for their humility — named at least two streets in Lakeview after themselves, including Stonecrest Drive and Stoneybrook Avenue. They were also the developers of the nearby Stonestown shopping complex.

But don’t expect to see Lennar Corp. Avenue in the Bayview anytime soon, because the legislative process isn’t that simple. Paperwork for a new street name must first be submitted to Public Works and then referred to the Board of Supervisors, where it needs a majority vote to pass. Mayor Ed Lee holds veto power over the christening, though he has yet to use it for this purpose.

On Treasure Island, the proposed street names connect to one of the pancake-flat land’s original purposes: fairground. The Golden Gate International Exposition was held on the island beginning in 1939, and the streets will probably commemorate the event. Avenue of the Palms bisects one end of the island, paralleled by Seven Seas Avenue. Other streets, like Maybeck Street, Macky Lane and Johnson Street, are for prominent artists, architects and locals who contributed to the fair.

“All of the streets on Treasure Island will be reconstructed,” said Bob Beck, a spokesman for the Treasure Island Redevelopment Authority, a nonprofit public benefit agency overseeing economic development of the island. “The street naming would be either places and names from within the exposition or names of artists who designed the buildings and artwork, things of that nature.”

At the Candlestick Point redevelopment, new streets will honor Elder Samuel Pryor Smith Sr., who began his career in the shipyards, welder Zerline Dixon, and activist Christen Neal. Developer FivePoint, which is overseeing the Shipyard and Candlestick developments, went to the community for name suggestions, said Regional President Kofi Bonner.

“Roads and streets are monuments in and of themselves. They are extremely relevant to the local community but also to the city,” he said. “We like to have the neighbors decide what or who they want to memorialize.”

But even the best intentions can spark the city’s sense of political righteousness, particularly when it comes to renaming streets. Just ask former Mayor Willie Brown. Political allies, including former Mayor Gavin Newsom, tried to rename Third Street as Willie L. Brown Jr. Boulevard in 2010 and — well, it didn’t quite work out.

“Generally, it is a huge pain in the behind, and in the grand scheme of things, there are more important things to do,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who took the liberty of dubbing an alley near Pier 45 Al Scoma Way in 2001 and in 2003 renamed Pardee Alley as Jack Micheline Place, after the artist. This year, he named an alley Rose Pak’s Way after the Chinatown power broker — “Like it’s her way or the highway,” Peskin said.

“It becomes ingrained in the geography and history of San Francisco,” he said. “The city has more than 150 years of history replete with incredible characters, artists, poets and politicians that are deserving of some level of honor and collective memory. ... Naming and renaming streets is one of the most politically painful things to do.”

That hasn’t stopped local businesses, residents and politicians from trying. Several streets are renamed annually in a never-ending shuffle. The Fairmont San Francisco is in the early stages of filing paperwork to change a portion of Mason Street to Tony Bennett Way, honoring the crooner.

“There is a constant churning of street names,” said Phil Buscovich, a historian writing a book about San Francisco streets. “The city was pretty much filled up by the development of Diamond Heights and Glen Canyon in the 1960s. There’s no new streets, but people still have plenty of new names for the old ones.”

While some changes are superficial, others reflect the city’s changing culture. For decades, Army Street cut through the heart of San Francisco. But in 1995, an increasingly less militaristic locale elected to change it to Cesar Chavez Street, honoring the American farmworker and activist.

And in 2014, the supervisors voted unanimously to change the name of Lech Walesa Street to Dr. Tom Waddell Place. That came after Walesa, a Polish politician and union leader, publicly declared that gay people should not hold public office. He was ousted in favor of Waddell, a gay rights activist who died of AIDS and better meshed with the city’s liberal leanings.

“Streets connect to the culture of our city,” said Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. “People identify with their streets. It reflects a certain type of honor or achievement, giving people recognition for the things they have done. And because we are so diverse, our streets are, too. New streets reflect that.”

Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LizzieJohnsonnn