Map of New Netherland by Nicolaes Visscher (1685), including many place names in the Dutch colony
Placenames in most cases had their roots in Dutch and the Algonquian languages, and occasionally the IroquoianMohawk. At the time of European settlement it was the territory of the various Native American groups. In many cases the names of the Natives Americans used today were taken from the word for the place they made their villages, or their sagamore. Both the Americans and the New Netherlanders often gave names inspired by the geography or geology of the natural environment and described a shape, location, feature, quality, or phenomenon.
The Native Americans used wampum for transcription.[3] The Swannekins, or Salt Water People (as the Europeans were called),[1] used the Latin alphabet to write down the words they heard from the Wilden (Dutch for wild people), as the Lenape were called.[1] These approximations were no doubt greatly influenced by Dutch, which was the lingua franca of the multilingual province. Some names still exist in their altered form, their current spelling (and presumably pronunciation) having evolved over the last four centuries into American vernacular.
Early settlers and their descendants often "Batavianized"[4] names for geographical locations, the exonyms, rather than by their autonym, subsequently becoming the name of the Native Americans used today. In some cases it cannot be confirmed, or there is contention, as to whether the roots are in the Dutch or native tongue as sources do not always concur. Some can have several interpretations, while locative suffixes vary depending on the Algonquian language dialect that prevailed. Kill, meaning stream or channel, wyck meaning district,[5]
(or its English equivalents wick and wich), and hook meaning point are often seen.
Dutch surnames abound throughout the region as avenues, lakes, parks. Orange and Nassau come from the "first family" of the Dutch Republic, a dynasty of nobles traditionally elected "Stadtholder." William III of England was also prince of Orange, succeeding to the English throne through the conquest known as the Glorious Revolution, so the appellation Orange, though sometimes named for the English king in this period, reflects his Dutch birth and dynasty.
A
Map of New Netherland according to the Charters granted by The States General on 1614 and 1621
The name of a Unami group who lived along and between the banks of the Passaic Neck[6] and the name of one of the state's first townships, established in 1683. Meaning "a place in a rapid stream where fishing is done with a net,"[7] alternatively, "at the lamprey stream" from the contemporary axkwaakahnung. Spellings include Achquakanonk, Acquackanonk,[8]Auchaquackanock,[9] and Ackquekenon.[10]
Called Meghgectecock by the Lenape, this described the area around Newark Bay and the rivers that flowed into it. Neither are any longer in use. Achter, meaning "behind," and kol, meaning "neck," can be translated as the back (of the) peninsula,[11] in this case Bergen Neck.
Variations include Achter Kol, Achter Kull, Archer Col, Achter Kull.[12] A col is a gap or pass between mountains, in this case Bergen Hill and the Watchung Mountains, the flood-plain of Hackensack River and Passaic River providing a passage between the them, thus, rear pass or rear passage.
A tidal island, site of the first ferry landing for the patroonship Pavonia, which became Paulus Hook.
Spellings include Arresick,[13]Arressechhonk,[14] and Aresick, meaning "burial ground."[15]
The forerunner of Hudson and Bergen counties. Believed to come from the word bergen, which in Dutch and other Germanic languages of northern Europe means "mountains" or "hills",[19] and could describe a most distinct geological feature of the region, the Palisades.[20] Another interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch verb bergen as meaning "to save or recover" or the noun "place of safety", inspired by the settlers' return[21] after they had fled attacks by the native population during the Peach War. Some say that it is named for Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands or the city in Norway.[22]
Bergen Street
In the contemporary borough of Brooklyn,
Bergen Street was named for the family of one of the earliest settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam, Hans Hansen Bergen, who arrived in the province of New Netherland in 1633 as a ship's carpenter.[23] He came from Bergen, Norway, and was one of the few Scandinavian settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York City).[24][25] Bergen initially settled on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan and later owned extensive plantations elsewhere on the island.[26] Bergen later married Sarah Rapelje, the first child born in New York state of European parents.[27]
The fort on the Schuylkill River. A possible translation could be "Beavers Gap," from bever ("beaver") and reet (opening / cleft),[28] which would speak to its location where it enters the Delaware. More probably reede meant a "quai" in the harbor (cf. today's Dutch rede). Alternatively, adjacent to (or opposite) the fort was the terminus of the Great Minquas Path, an 80-mile (130 km) trail from the Susquehanna River to the Schuylkill River. This was the primary trade route for furs from the Susquehannock people, and the Dutch named the trail Beversreede, "Beaver Road."[29] However, 'rede' is Dutch for roadstead (anchorage) so the explanation 'quai' makes the most sense.
Loosely, "Beavertown," to refer a fur-trading community north of Fort Orange.[30] It is unlikely to be named after Beverwijk in the Netherlands, whose name comes from Bedevaartswijk, "pilgrimage neighbourhood." (Agatha of Sicily allegedly appeared there in the 9th century to a virgin from nearby Velsen.)
From a Dutch family name. The first Blauvelt in America was a peasant farmer who worked on Kiliaen van Rensselaer's estate cultivating tobacco in 1638. The same Dutch family name lies at the origin of Bluefields Bay in Jamaica and Bluefields in Nicaragua – after Abraham Blauvelt, Dutch trader, explorer, pirate and privateer. He operated from New Amsterdam from 1644.
The "valley of flowers," it is likely named for a village in the Netherlands, the Upper West Side in general (its northern reaches now as known as the Bloomingdale District) may have had some characteristics that would have reminded the Netherlanders of their home: close to the shore with a sandy bluff, with many small valleys or (dells).[32][33] In analogy to the Dutch village of Bloemendaal lying next to the town of Haarlem, so the Dutch settlers seemed to have named the small settlement next to the village of Harlem on Manhattan.
Bouwerij was the old Dutch word for farm (contemporary: boerderij).[34] The Dutch West India Company mapped out land for farms on Manhattan north of New Amsterdam, the first of which, "Bouerij 1" (later known as Stuyvesant Farm) was reserved for the support of the colony's director-general. It became the personal property of Petrus Stuyvesant, the person to hold the position.
Named after Jonas Bronck, the first recorded European settler to the peninsula. It was called Rananchqua[35] by the native Siwanoy[36] band of Lenape, while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck.[37] It was divided by the Aquahung River.[34] The Bronck family later moved upstate and built Bronck House.
Map c.1634. An early name for Brooklyn was Gebroke Land, or broken land, likely because of its many streams, rivers, and tidal flats.
Early maps refer to western Long Island as Gebroken Land, or "Broken Land,"[38] though most believe the city, and later borough, was named for the Dutch town whose contemporary spelling is Breukelen.
Some say the name evolved from Breuckelen, to Brockland, to Brocklin, to Brookline, and eventually, Brooklyn.[39]
The last of the six Dutch towns of Brooklyn settled in 1661 as Boswijck, in essence "little town in the woods,"[40][41] though a literal translation would be "woods district."[34]
Canarsie stems from the Lenape language for "fenced land" or "fort." The current neighborhood in Brooklyn lies within the former town of Flatlands, one of the five original Dutch towns on Long Island.
Fresh Water Pond[49] near the southern tip of Manhattan, covering approximately 48 acres (194,000 m²) and running as deep as 60 ft (18 m).[49] The pond was fed by an underground spring, and its outflow ran through the Lispenard Meadows marshes to the Hudson River. The nameCollect is a corruption of the Dutch word kolch (a small body of water), which was subsequently corrupted to kalch, and so on until it became Collect.[49]
Site of summer encampment and counsel fire of the Hackensack Indians.
Spellings include Gamoenapa,[1]Gemonepan,[50]Gemoenepaen,[50]Gamenepaw, Comounepaw, Comounepan,[14] Communipau,[51] Goneuipan[52]
From gamunk, on the other side of the river, and pe-auke, water-land, meaning big landing-place from the other side of the river.[53]
Contemporary: gamuck meaning other side of the water or otherside of the river[54] or landing place at the side of a river[55]
Site of first "bouwerie" built at Pavonia and called Jan de Lacher's Hoeck[56]
some have suggested that it comes from Community of Pauw, which likely is more a coincidence that a fact.[57][58][59][60]
A land grant to Jacob Jacobsen Roy who was a chief gunner or constable in Fort Amsterdam in New Amsterdam in 1646, by the Dutch West India Company, under the leadership of Director of New NetherlandWilliam Kieft. Konstapel's Hoeck in Dutch, takes its name from Roy's title.[62]
A hoek or hoeck in Dutch meaning a spit of land or small peninsula. Though not used, could be translated to English as Gunner's Point.
Likely from kromme kille meaning crooked creek, border between Secaucus and North Bergen. Similar to evolution of
Gramercy, which is a corruption of the krom mesje, or little crooked knife, the name of a small brook that flowed along what is now 21st Street in Manhattan.[64]
Kill Van Kull connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay.
Literally translating to dance chamber, meaning ballroom. On their voyage upriver in 1609 Henry Hudson's crew supposedly saw Native Americans dancing around a fire at the site and thought they were looking at "the Devil's dance chamber". There was once a lighthouse, Danskammer Point Light, at the site.[66]
Literally dark corner. Small section of suburban Paramus reputed to be the former site of a "slave community." According to local histories and an historic marker at the site, Dunkerhook was once home to a population of African Americans, many or all of whom were slaves, as well as a "slave school" and "slave church." However, primary historic documentation establishes that Dunkerhook was populated not by slaves, but rather primarily by free African Americans.[69]
A description of the terrain, in Dutch Vlacke Bos.
One of the six Dutch towns in Brooklyn, established in 1652
as Midwout,[70] the earlier name living on as Midwood.
From the Dutch town of Vlissingen. The derivation of the name Vlissingen is unclear, though most scholars relate the name to the word fles (bottle) in one way or another.[71]
Popular lore has it that it comes from Moneyland, explained as referring to early Dutch settler's assumption that the large amount of sand in the area could generate a profitable glass industry. More likely is that it derives from the name of the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, from whence came many Dutch settlers. It may have been originally Gelterland or Gelterlan. Until the introduction of the euro, modern Dutch currency was the guilder.
The meadowlands, river and city, the LenapeHackensack tribe and their territory, take their name from site of semi-permanent encampment on the neck between the river and Overpeck Creek, near the Teaneck Ridge.
Variously translated as place of stony ground[78] or place of sharp ground.[8]
Spellings include Ahkingeesahkuy, Achsinnigeu-haki,[78] Achinigeu-hach, Ack-kinkas-hacky, Achkinhenhcky, Ackingsah-sack, Ackinckeshacky,[8]Hackinsack[1] Alternatively, suggested as the place where two rivers come together on low ground or stream which discharges itself into another on the level ground,[55] which would speak to the confluence of the Hackensack and Overpeck Creek or Passaic River.
Named in the 19th century for the crescent shape of the land between the Hudson River and Mohawk River,[79][80] and is coincidentally the same as Halve Maen, the ship captained by Henry Hudson during his 1609 exploration of the river named for him.
Possibly Crow's Marsh. Site of a seasonal Hackensack encampment and one of first "bouweries" built by Dutch settlers at Pavonia.
Spellings include: Aharsimus,[82]Ahasimus,[6][83]Hasymes,[84]Haassemus, Hahassemes, Hasimus, Horseemes, Hasseme,[52]Horsimus[9]
Contemporary: ahas meaning crow[85]
One of the first locales to appear on maps of North America, listed as Haverstroo, which means oat straw.[28] It was common for the Lenape to use straw thatch for roofs on their dwellings, or wigwams.[86]
Homestead or farmyard.[28]
The town was first settled around 1644 following the establishment of a treaty between English colonists, John Carman and Robert Fordham, and the Indians in 1643. Although the settlers were from the English colony of Connecticut, a patent was issued by New Amsterdam after the settlers had purchased land from the local natives. The town may have been named for either Hemel Hempstead in the United Kingdom or the Dutch city of Heemstede, a town south of Haarlem, Netherlands. Site of early English incurisons in New Netherland by New Englanders, in 1643[87]
"Batavianization" of the Lenapetobacco pipe, from hoopookum or hupoken.[8]
Most likely to refer to the soapstone collected there to carve tobacco pipes, in a phrase that became Hopoghan Hackingh[88] or place of stone for the tobacco pipe.
(Contemporary: Hopoakan meaning pipe for smoking)
Alternatively from Hoebuck, old Dutch for high bluff and likely referring to Castle Point[89] Variations used during the colonial era included Hobock,[90]Hobocan,Hoboocken,[91] and Hobuck,[89] Although the spellingHoboken was used by the English as early as 1668,[14] it doesn't appear that until Col. John Steven purchased the land on which the city is situated that it became common.
Some would believe the city to be named after European town of the same name. The FlemishHoboken, annexed in 1983 to Antwerp, Belgium,[92] is derived from Middle Dutch Hooghe Buechen or Hoge Beuken, meaning High Beeches or Tall Beeches.[93] Established in 1135, the New Netherlanders were likely aware of its existence (and may have pronounced the Lenape to conform a more familiar sound), but it is doubtful that the city on the Hudson is named for it.[94]
Settled as Rustdorp with a 1656 land patent. English renamed it Jameco for Yamecah, a Native American. Alternatively, from "Jameco" after a Lenape language word for "beaver".[96]
Separating Bayonne and Staten Island. From the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning riverbed or water channel. Likely evolved from Achter Col, as in kille van kol, or channel from the neck, its spellings including Kill von Cull, Kille van Cole, Kill van Koll
Describes the area along middle reaches of Hackensack River, kamak said to come from the Lenape and mean place of ceremonial dance and worship[97] possible spellings include Kinkachgemeck,[98]
From Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry Hudson's yacht Halve Maen (Half Moon).[102] A 1610 map depicts the name Manahata twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the Hudson River). The word "Manhattan" has been translated as island of many hills.[103]The Encyclopedia of New York City offers other derivations, including from the Munsee dialect of Lenape: manahachtanienk ("place of general inebriation"), manahatouh ("place where timber is procured for bows and arrows"), or menatay ("island").[104]
From Mespeatches translated as at the bad waterplace relating to the many stagnant swamps that existed in the area.[105]
Purchased in 1635, and within a few years began chartering towns. In 1642 they settled Maspat, under a charter granted to Rev. Francis Doughty.[106] Maspat became the first European settlement in Queens.[107] The settlement was leveled the following year in an attack by Native Indians, and the surviving settlers returned to Manhattan. It wasn't until nine years later, in 1652, that settlers ventured back to the area, settling an area slightly inland from the previous Maspat[108]
Maspeth Creek, the original reason for settling here, looking west towards Newtown Creek
This is perhaps an approximation of masgichteu-cunk meaning where May-apples grow, from a moist-woodland perennial that bears edible yellow berries[20] and used to describe the lobe of land between and the confluence of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers at Newark Bay.[14] It was part of Achter Col for the New Netherlanders and New Barbadoes Neck to the British.
Contemporary: masgichteu meaning may apple.[8]
Middle woods, settled in 1652, in this case between Boswijck and Breuckelen, because of its dense forests. Later, was part of old Flatbush, situated between the towns of Gravesend and Flatlands.[109]
On Bergen Neck between Pamrapo and Communipaw at Caven Point,[52] first settled by New Netherlanders in 1647. Spellings include Minelque and Minkakwa
meaning a place of good crossing probably because it was the most convenient pass between the two bays on either side of the neck, (or could mean place where the coves meet; in this case where they are closest to each other and, hence advantageous for portage.)
A corruption of the Dutchmoordenaars, meaning murderers, hence Murderers' Creek, its original name. Local lore has it that the name came from the massacre of the Stacys, an early family of settlers, along its banks.[111]
Ground hog, badger, or place of dug up earth[8] (contemporary: monachgeu) for groundhog, and munhacke for badger and munhageen meaning to dig a hole[99]
After 1650, Oyster Bay[28] was the boundary between the Dutch New Amsterdam colony and the New England Confederation. The English, under Peter Wright, first settled in the area in 1653. The boundary was somewhat fluid which led to each group having their own Main Street.
Early 17th-century Dutch maps of the Hudson River Valley show an Indian village, whose inhabitants were part of the Mohegan Tribe, named "Sint Sinck." That phrase, when translated, means "stone upon stone" and refers to the extensive beds of limestone found in the southern part of the village.
In 1685, the Sint Sincks sold their land to Frederick Philipse who incorporated it into his land holdings known as the Manor of Philipsburg. The Manor comprised about 165,000 acres (668 km2) and extended from Spuyten Duyvil Creek at the tip of Manhattan on the south to the Croton River just north of the Village of Ossining. The land was leased to tenant farmers of Dutch, French, and English origin.
Possibly from John Outwater, a Revolutionary War hero.[115] or from the town of Oudewater in the Dutch province of South Holland. Derivation from Uiterwaarden meaning a flood plain, of which there were many, this one at the foot of Paterson Plank Road.[116]
Oever meaning a sloping bank and perk meaning border or boundary, hence at the water's edge,[117] actually a riparian zone. Used in English as early as 1665. By the Lenape called Tantaqua, it was the site of semi-permanent village of the Hackensack Indians.
In Canarsie, the channel that connects to Jamaica Bay on the southern end of Brooklyn. A gat, or opening, and paarde from the word for horse. "Paerdegat" derives from the old Dutch 'paardengat', meaning "horse gate".[118]
From Parampseapus or Peremessing meaning, perhaps, where there is worthwhile (or fertile) land or place of wild turkeys. Seapus or sipus is said to mean water, so the name may mean turkey river. Saddle River was also called Peramseapus. Spellings include Pyramus.[100][120]
The county, river and city are taken from pahsayèk,[121]pahsaayeek[8] and pasayak, meaning valley or water that flows through the valley. Spellings include: Pawsaick, Pissawack. Contemporary: Pachsa'jeek.[8]
A tidal island, called Arresick by the Lenape the site where, in 1630, Michael Pauw's staked his claim for his attempted patroonship. Named after his agent who built a hut and ferry landing there, hoek or hoeck meaning a spit or point.
Variations include Paulus Hoeck, Powles Hoek, Powles Hook
From Peeck's Kil. New Amsterdam resident Jan Peeck made the first recorded contact with the native population of the area, then identified as "Sachoes". The date is not certain (possibly early 1640s), but agreements and merchant transactions took place, formalized into the Ryck's Patent Deed of 1684.
From Paquettahhnuake meaning cleared land ready or being readied for cultivation.[123]Packanack is also contemporary variation of this place and possibly the Pacquanac-clan of Lenape.
/pəˈkɪpsiː/ from (roughly) U-puku-ipi-sing), meaning the reed covered lodge by the little-water place, referring to a spring or stream feeding into the Hudson River
Used as farmland by the Wappinger[126] to early traders it was known as the White Plains, either from the groves of white balsam which are said to have covered it,[127] or from the heavy mist that local tradition suggests hovered over the swamplands near the Bronx River.[128]
The Raritan people, Raritan River, Raritan Bay, and towns take their name from a derivation of Naraticong, meaning river beyond the island (which, considering location, could be Staten Island).
Some would believe that it comes from Roaton or Raritanghe, a tribe which had come from across the Hudson River and displaced the existing population of Sanhicans.[20][129] Alternatively, Raritan is a Dutch pronunciation of wawitan or rarachons, meaning forked river or stream overflows.[130]
Place of sands, possibly from l'eckwa meaning sand and auke meaning place[132] Spellings include requarkie[133]Rechouwakie[132]Rechaweygh, Rechquaakie, Reckowacky[134]
A tributary of the Hudson River in Ulster and Sullivan counties Rondout comes from the fort, or redoubt, that was erected near its mouth The Dutch equivalent of the English word redoubt (a fort or stronghold), is reduyt. In the Dutch records of Wildwyck, however, the spelling used to designate this same fort is invariably Ronduyt during the earliest period, with the present form rondout (often capitalized) appearing as early as 22 November 1666. The Dutch word ronduyt is an adjective meaning "frankly" or "positively." The word could also be broken down into its components and translated, literally, "round-out." However, it seems unlikely that the inhabitants of Esopus had any special meaning in mind when they corrupted the Dutch word reduyt into ronduyt and rondout. Most likely, this corrupting process merely represented the simplification of a word (reduyt).[135]
The official explanation by the State of Rhode Island is that Adriaen Block named the area "Roodt Eylandt" meaning "red island" in reference to the red clay that lined the shore, and that the name was later anglicized when the region came under British rule.[136]
Originally part of territory of the Mohawk, who called the settlement at Fort OrangeSchau-naugh-ta-da meaning over the pine plains. Eventually, this word entered the lexicon of the Dutch settlers, but the meaning was reversed, and the name referred to the bend in the Mohawk River where the city lies today.
Schuylkill
Schuylkill (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈsxœylkɪl]) by its European discoverer, Arendt Corssen of the Dutch West India Company translated hidden river[137] and refers to the river's confluence with the Delaware River at League Island, which was nearly hidden by dense vegetation. Perhaps, more properly, hideout creek Native: Ganshohawanee, meaning "rushing and roaring waters," or "Manaiunk".[138]
Sukit meaning black and achgook meaning snake in Lenape,[139] hence black snakes.[55] Spellings include Sekakes,[59]Sikakes, Sickakus. Contemporary: seke, meaning black and xkuk or achgook[54] meaning snake.[140] Locally, pronounced "SEE-kaw-cus", with the accent on the first syllable, not the second as often used by non-natives.[141]Snake Hill, in Secaucus, is a geolologic intrusion in the midst of the Meadowlands.
Sometimes place of shells, referring to Long Island, from whence the native population harvested shells[142] for the production of zewant or wampum. Spellings include Sewanhacking, Suanhacky, Sewahaka.
Said to mean resting place for the departed or happy hunting ground since this area of Wyckoff, according to tradition, was the burial place of many Native Americans, possibly including Oratam, sagamore of the Hackensack Indians[143] Contemporary schikamik meaning hole or grave or machtschikamikunk meaning a burial place.[144]
A one-mile (1.6 km)-long channel connecting the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. "Spuyten Duyvil" (modern Dutch: Spuitende Duivel) means Devil's Spout,[34] a reference to the strong and wild currents.[31]
Black Fertile River-Enhanced Earth, good for planting, as the land along the river valley that was site Fort Huys de Goede Hoop or Fort House of Good Hope, the 1623 settlement of what is now Hartford[73]
Sutphin Boulevard, Queens, New York, named after the settlers family Van Sutphin or Van Sutphen, referring to their origins from the Dutch town and county of Zutphen, a hanseatic town, one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. ‘Zutphen’ meaning ‘south fen (marsh land)’.
The region radiating from Palisades Interstate Park and its inhabitants as named by New Netherlanders, who spelled it as Tappaen.[145][146] Site of the "bouwerie" Vriessendael.
Possibly from Tuphanne meaning cold water[147]
Likely more related to contemporary petapan meaning dawn or petapaniui meaning at the break of dawn,[144] and relates to their kin across the river, the Wappinger,, whose name is derived from the Algonquian people of the east or easterners. (Contemporary: Wapaneu meaningeasterly and Wapanke meaning to-morrow.)
Origin and meaning are uncertain, though possibly may mean the woods[148][149] An alternative is from the Dutch "Tiene Neck" meaning "neck where there are willows" (from the Dutch "tene" meaning willow[citation needed]).
From Dutch Tiene Vly or Ten Swamps given by settlers in 1688.[150] Alternatively, from the Dutch expression "t'eene vallei (or vlij)," meaning at a meadow or willow meadows from tene meaning willow and vlaie (alternatively spelled fly/vly/vley) meaning meadow or swamp.[151]
The Fresh River, now the Connecticut River, likely because of it sweet, rather than brackish water. Note that, while "vers" is Dutch for "fresh" in the sense of new and unspoilt, fresh water is called zoet water "sweet water", not vers water
From Wallen Bocht or Wallon's Bow, referring to the curve of the bay on the East River. Spellings include Waaleboght[155] From the River Waal, an arm of the Rhine long referred to as "inner harbor".[156]
Known as Twischsawkin, meaning the land where plums abound. At least three prehistoric rock shelters have been found in archaeological digs in the region. For the indigenous peoples, it was not only important for its arable land but for its geological resources. The river and its valley are abundant in flint and chert, from which they made spear points and arrowheads.[157]Europeansettlers of the region named it first the Palse River, after New Paltz. Later, when it was clear that the river continued well beyond the original New Paltz patent, it took after the Waal river in their native Netherlands. However, more likely is that the name derives from the 'Walen' or Walloons, referring to the Huguenots who fled from their homelands in the western border area of France and present-day Belgium to the Pfalz and from there to New Netherlands. They worked their way down it from the Hudson Valley in the 17th century, and were followed by the British after the colony changed hands.[157]
From the Algonquian word for easterner, approximately 18 loosely associated bands[158] of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century spread along the eastern side of the Hudson River. The town of Wappinger, the village of Wappingers Falls and Wappinger Creek Among the many phonetic spellings employed by early European settlers are Wappinck, Wapping, Wappingo, and Wawping,[159] Wappans, Wappings, and Wappani,[160] and Wappinghs,[161] all apparent corruptions of the Algonquian word for "easterners".[162]
Other sources suggest it may have been a native corruption of wapendragers, the Dutch word for "weapon-bearers".[163]
Variously interpreted as or rocks that look like rows of trees or at the end of (the Palisades or stream that flowed from them.) and place of gulls.[165] Spelling have included: Awiehawken, Wiehacken, Weehauk, Weehawk, Weehock, Wiceaken,Wihaken, Wyhaken, and WiehachanPeter Minuit, first governor of New Netherland, sailed to the new world upon a ship called The Seagull or Het "Meeuwken,[12] which may have led to one interpretation of the Lenape.
Settlement on west bank of Hudson River established in 1652,[169] possibly meaning
Wild District, since at the time farmers were engage in an ongoing series of raids and reprisals known as the Esopus Wars. (It is today known as Kingston, New York.)
Most commonly believed origin to be from the Lenape word wickoff meaning high ground, or that it is from wickok meaning water.[143][170] A less widely held theory is that the town was named for Brooklyn judge Pieter Claesen Wyckoff (1625–1694). The surname comes from the Dutch words wyk, meaning district and hof, meaning court.[28] Alternatively, the name is Friesian, its most common meaning in the Northern Germanic languages is a settlement on a bay. The Wykhof estate from where Pieter Claessen emigrated is located near the Ems River Bay, about 5 miles south of Norden, Lower Saxony, Germany.[171]
From Jonkheer or Jonker meaning young gentleman (and in effect, Esquire), the title borne by proprietor of homestead which included the land where the city is situated, Adriaen van der Donck.
^ abShorto, Russell (2004). The Island at the Center of the World: The Mouth-watering Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America. Random House. ISBN1-4000-7867-9.
^ abcdNew Jersey Colonial Records, East Jersey Records: Part 1-Volume 21, Calendar of Records 1664–1702
^On 12 July 1630, Mr. Michael Pauw, Burgomaster of Amsterdam and Lord of Achtienhover, near Utrecht, obtained through the Directors and Councillors of New Netherlands, a deed from the Indians to the land called Hopoghan Hackingh, this being the first deed recorded in New Netherlands. On 22 November, of the same year, the same parties procured from the Indians a deed to Mr. Pauw of Ahasimus and Aresick (burying-ground), the peninsula later called Paulus Hook.
^In his definitive book on the early history of Manhattan, New York City: The Island at the City of the World, author Russell Shorto acknowledges that Rapelje was the first child born of European parents in New Netherlands, which embraces what it now New York State. Sarah Rapelje's chair, now in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, is also identified as belonging to the first child born in the state of European parentage.[1][2] Recent scholarship in the Dutch archives of New York backs up Shorto's assertions. 14 Generations: New Yorkers Since 1624, the Rapaljes Are On a Mission to Keep Their History Alive, Steve Wick, Newsday, March 28, 2009Archived 28 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
^ abGannett, Ganett, Henry, The Origin of Certain Place Names in The United States
^Writers' Program (U.S.) New Jersey. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names Trenton, NJ, New Jersey Public Library Commission, 1945. ...
www.njstatelib.org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/Digidox7.php
^Letter to the Editor: GravesendArchived 22 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 20 December 1992. Retrieved 28 October 2007. "As a historical archeologist specializing in the early history of New York, I can tell you that what is now the Gravesend section of Brooklyn was not named for the hometown that Lady Deborah Moody and her followers left in England, as you stated in your article about the community on 18 October, but by the Dutch governor-general, William Kieft. Kieft chose to name the settlement " 's'Gravesande" after the town in Holland that had been the seat of the Counts of Holland before they moved to the Hague. It means the count's sand or beach."
^Chang, Kathy; and Kesten, Karen L. "Birth of a town"Archived December 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, News Transcript, December 16, 2009. Accessed May 16, 2021. "Manalapan is said to derive its name from the Lenape word for 'land of good bread or good land to settle upon.' Englishtown was a part of Manalapan. The Monmouth Battlefield lands are 80 percent in Manalapan."
^"More on the names behind the roads we ride"Archived 7 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The Record (Bergen County), 21 April 2002. Retrieved 26 October 2007. "The origin of Manhattan probably is from the language of the Munsee, according to the Encyclopedia of New York City. It could have come from manahachtanienk, meaning place of general inebriation, ormanahatouh, meaning place where timber is procured for bows and arrows, or menatay, meaning island.
^Steinhauer, Jennifer."F.Y.I"Archived 22 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine,The New York Times, 15 May 1994. Retrieved 17 January 2008. "The North River was the colonial name for the entire Hudson River, just as the Delaware was known as the South River. These names went out of use sometime early in the century, said Norman Brouwer, a historian at the South Street Seaport Museum."
^Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition (1911), Volume XXVIII, p. 607.
^Hoffman, Redona. Yesterday in White Plains, a Picture History of a Vanished Era, Second Edition, Privately Published, 1984. Available from the White Plains, NY Public Library and other sources.
^Between 1628 and 1640, the Sanhicans were driven away from the west shore of Raritan Bay by a band of Wisquaskecks, known as the Roaton or Raritanghe, who removed from their territory north of Manhattan across Staten Island and into the lower Raritan Valley.
^Troeger, Virginia, B. and McEwen, Robert, James. Woodbridge, 2002. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. p. 18.
^Roberts, Bruce and Jones, Ray, Lighthouses of New York, Globe Pequot Press, Guilford CT, 2008
^Page, Jeffrey."Our towns challenge our tongues"Archived 25 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine, The Record (Bergen County), 17 June 2005. Retrieved 19 June 2007. "You can always tell newcomers to Secaucus. Because most words are pronounced with emphasis on the next-to-last syllable, they say they live in see-KAW-cus – although the ones who fear their friends might recall that Secaucus used to be pig-farming country might say they live in South Carlstadt, which doesn't exist. If I said 'see-KAW-cus' to someone local, they'd think I didn't know what I was talking about,said Dan McDonough, the municipal historian. Of course it's SEE-kaw-cus. Everybody knows that."
^Old Tappan
Tappan is the name given to the region and its inhabitants by New Netherlanders from the 1687 patent:"...a Cartaine trackt of Landt named ould tappan as ye same is bounded by trees marked by ye indians.” Tappan, from the Lenni Lenape word Tuphanne (reputed to mean cold water)
^A Piece Of Land Becomes A TownArchived 12 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, text of article from The Teaneck Shopper, 21 October 1970. "According to a Lenape-English dictionary compiled by Moravian missionaries to further their work among the Indians, "Tekene" meant woods, or uninhabited place. "Nek" was the plural of "Ne", thus the word could have been "Tekenek" or simply "The Woods". The Dutch, who Hollandized so many Indian place names, would quite naturally have spelled it "Tiene Neck" or tiny neck."
^Zeisberger, David, Essay of Delaware Indian and English Spelling Book, Philadelphia, 1775
^WeehawkenArchived 17 March 2004 at the Wayback Machine, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 13 June 2007. "A township in Hudson County, N.J., seven miles northeast of Jersey [sic] City. The name was originally an Algonquin Indian term and later changed by folk-usage to a pseudo-Dutch form. Its exact meaning is unclear, but variously translated as place of gulls,rocks that look like trees,maize land,at the end (of the Palisades) and field lying along the Hudson."
^Wykoff, M William (2014). What's in a Name: History and Meaning of Wyckoff. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN978-1500379957.
^Steinhauer, Jennifer."F.Y.I"Archived 22 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine,The New York Times, 15 May 1994. "The North River was the colonial name for the entire Hudson River, just as the Delaware was known as the South River. These names went out of use sometime early in the century, said Norman Brouwer, a historian at the South Street Seaport Museum."
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