How did the New York City boroughs get their names?

Answer 1

Manhattan

The Island of Manhattan was called, "Mannahatta" or "Manahata" by the Native American Lenape tribe, who inhabited New York City before the Europeans. "Mannahatta/Manahata" means "island of many hills." Later the name was altered to Manhattan.

Brooklyn

The Dutch (who were the first Europeans to settle New York City) named it "Breukelen," which means "broken land." They named it Breukelen after a municipality in the province of Utrecht, in their homeland of the Netherlands (there is a New Utrecht Avenue in Brooklyn, too). Eventually, the name evolved from "Breukelen" to "Brooklyn."

Queens

Queens was named for Queen Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese Princess who married King Charles the II of England. This is the same King Charles II who gave the newly-conquered Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam to his brother, the Duke of York. New Amsterdam was then renamed New York in the Duke's honor.

The Bronx

The Bronx got its name from a Swedish farmer who lived there, named Jonas Bronck. Later the name was shortened to the Bronx instead of the Bronck's.

As for the reason it is called THE Bronx, instead of just Bronx: as the Bronx at that time was nearly completely uninhabited except for Jonas Bronck and his family and his livestock, visitors who went there would say, "We're going to the Bronck's farm" like you would say, "We're going to the Mulligan's house."

Also, the Bronx is the only borough which has a river running through it. Since you usually put the word "the" before a river's name -- like, the Hudson River, the Harlem River, the East River -- people called it "the Bronx" because it was where "the Bronx River" was.

Staten Island

When the Dutch arrived, they named it Staaten Eylandt, after the Staten Generaal, the Dutch Parliament. That literally translates to, "State's Island."

In 1683, after the English had taken control of New York City, it was renamed Richmond County (a name that comes from the title of the illegitimate son of our old friend King Charles II of England, who also played a role in the naming of New York City and the borough of Queens).

When Staten Island became part of New York City in 1898 (the year the five boroughs consolidated into one city), it was the borough of Richmond until 1975, when it was renamed the borough of Staten Island. It is still called Richmond County in state government, however.