Confirmation last week a private way off North Taieri Rd will be called Caroline Way provides certainty of recognition for Caroline Freeman, who lived in the area and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1885.
She often walked from Green Island to the university, a report for the Dunedin City Council’s infrastructure services committee said.
There may already have been a nod to her in Abbotsford, as a street off North Taieri Rd is called Freeman Close.
Council staff said it was "possibly" named after the same person, but this would not cause an issue, as there was no potential for confusion between Caroline Way and Freeman Close.
For Dunedin deputy mayor Sophie Barker, there were personal connections in having Caroline Way approved.
In 1886, Ms Freeman opened her own school for girls, Girton College, which would become part of Columba College — the school Cr Barker attended and she was also part of the Girton house there.
Cr Barker submitted nine names for a street names register last year and seven were accepted, including Caroline Freeman. Names on the register are pre-approved and can be chosen for new roads in the city.
Lack of female representation in Dunedin road signs has been highlighted in recent years and the council has been looking to turn this around, as well as including more Māori options.
In March, Cr Christine Garey again challenged developers who chose from the list when building subdivisions to go with more diverse names.
Cr Barker encouraged more people to put names forward.
"The process does work and here we are celebrating a really special woman and having her name respected in the naming of a private way."
