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How did places in New York City get their names?
The European roots of New York place names
New York City is one of the most iconic cities in the world. Its image has been communicated around the world for several centuries, in particular in the 20th century.
We see it in television shows, in plays and on film. It has been portrayed in literature and art, standing for business, culture, power and a symbol of the United States itself.
Because of this, we are familiar with the names of many places in New York City. This blog looks at the European roots of these place names, illustrated by cultural heritage items from across Europe.
New Europe
The very name of New York and its locations have European colonial origins.
The New York region has been a homeland to Algonquian Native Americans for centuries. Since the 1600s, European powers have named the city, which traces its origins to a trading post founded on the southern tip of Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists.
The city was initially called New Amsterdam, capital of the Dutch Nieuw Nederlands colony. It gained its current name in the 1660s when the Dutch surrendered the colony to the English.
It was named in honour of the Duke of York, who later became King James II of England. It has maintained the name New York for centuries (despite a short time as New Orange in the 1670s).
How did New York boroughs get their names?
New York City has five boroughs: Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island.
Brooklyn is named after Breukelen, a small Dutch town in the province of Utrecht.
Two further boroughs of New York - Queens and Staten Island - have European origins. Queens was named after the Portuguese royal princess, and later English Queen, Catherine of Braganza. Staten Island was named Staaten Eylandt by the Dutch.
The name derived from the Staten Generaal, the parliament of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
Only one of New York City's five boroughs retains a name that does not have European origins: Manhattan derives from a Munsee Lenape language term manaháhtaan.
What are the Dutch influences on New York place names?
Many place names in New York reflect Dutch origins. The Flushing neighbourhood derives from the Dutch town Vlissingen.
Harlem is named after Haarlem, the capital of the province of North Holland.
Yonkers, a suburb of New York, takes its name from the Dutch word jonkheer ('young gentleman') which is a title similar to esquire. It was the title by which Adriaen van der Donck was known - he was the landowner to whom the area was given.
Coney Island comes from Conyne Eylandt meaning 'Rabbit Island'.
How did New York's rivers and waterways get their names?
Some place names go further back in history than the Dutch colony, with Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano lending his name to the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island, which spans waters he navigated in 1524.
The Hudson River takes its name from Henry Hudson, an English sailor who explored the river in 1609.