Q. Most transplants to New York quickly learn that the Lower Manhattan street is pronounced HOW-stun, instead of HUE-stun, like the city. But why is it pronounced that way?

A. Because the city and street trace their names to two very different Mr. Houstons, according to Gerard Koeppel, author of the 2015 book “City on a Grid: How New York Became New York.”

“Houston the city is named after Sam Houston,” i.e., the politician who secured the independence of Texas from Mexico, Mr. Koeppel said. “Our street was named after a fellow named William Houstoun, who was a prominent Georgian, from a long line of Scotsmen.”

Despite Mr. Houstoun’s Southern pedigree, it was his wife, Mary Bayard, also from a Scottish family, who had the kind of clout that earns a person a street named in his honor.