Brooklyn ’s mod history begin as six low Dutch town on the southern peak of Long Island . From these ominous beginnings sprouted New York ’s most populous borough , full of unique and discrete neighborhoods . You may know where these neighborhoods are , but do you know what their name mean ?
Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge , ca . 1872 - 1887
Dutch settlers landed in this area and dubbed it “ Yellow Hook ” for its yellow Lucius DuBignon Clay soil along the water . In 1853 , a yellow fever epidemic ruin out and , in a move of shrewd marketing , Yellow Hook ’s citizenschanged the neighborhood ’s name to Bay Ridge . Wealthy New Yorkers were attract to the area ’s beautiful view of New York Bay — a much better draw than a virulent line of descent disease .
Bergen Beach
The Bergen family were some of the first Dutch settlers to land in Brooklyn . Their tribe originated in Bergen , Norway , and descendent Hans Hansen Bergen migrated to Billie Jean King County in 1633 . His wife , Sarah Rapelye , arrived with the first Dutch ship to the borough and , according to the bookBrooklyn by Name , she call herself the “ first - born Christian Daughter of New Netherland . ” What people actually called her behind her back , however , has been lost in the tides of account .
Bedford-Stuyvesant
This hybrid name comes from the fourth dimension when the Ithiel Town of Bedford flux with Stuyvesant Heights . Stuyvesant Heights was named for Peter Stuyvesant , the last governor of the Dutch - ensure New Netherlands dependency before it was given to British normal in 1664 .
Boerum Hill
The Boerums were early Dutch settler who arrived in Brooklyn in 1649 and rise to extrusion as farmers in the area . The name Boerum Hill was out of fashion for much of the 20th one C and the sphere was often just referred to as “ South Brooklyn . ” When the neighborhood ’s popularity surface in the 1990s , South Brooklyn was out and Boerum Hill was in .
Brooklyn Heights
This one is relatively self - explanatory , but the name " Brooklyn " is n’t ( at least for those of us who do n’t speak Dutch ) . It come fromBreuckelen , one of the aforesaid six original town of Kings County . New York ’s first suburbia was named for the ridge it ’s rest upon over the East River . It was roll in the hay as " Brooklyn Village " for years before the name " Brooklyn Heights " stick as the borough farm .
Carroll Gardens
Like Boerum Hill , Carroll Gardens was just “ South Brooklyn ” for most of its story . The name “ Carroll Gardens ” comes from Charles Carroll , a signatory of the Declaration of Independence . Carroll leave a failed rape on a British encampment near the Gowanus Canal in 1776 and recede about 300 of his 400 troops . In the mid-20th 100 , a neighborhood civil connection popularized the nameCarroll Gardens in an endeavour to regenerate the area . Their plan hoist up being far more successful than Carroll ’s assault .
Clinton Hill
This vicinity just east of Fort Greene is name after Clinton Avenue , which is itself named after New York Governor DeWitt Clinton ( in office from 1817 to ' 22 and again from 1825 to ' 28 ) . “ Hill ” alludes to the domain ’s downright dizzying elevation of 95 feet .
Cobble Hill
This area is name for the steep cobblestone street that once rose from what today is the box of Court and Pacific Streets . Early Dutch settlers call it " Ponkiesbergh , " which literally translates to " Cobble Hill . " George Washington used it as a vantage point during the Revolutionary War ’s Battle of Long Island . The Americans lost , but as least he had a great scene .
Coney Island
The Dutch call up this land " Conyne Eylandt , " mean " Rabbit Island . "
Crown Heights
Crown Heights was originally Crow Hill until Crown Street was lay through the neighborhood in 1916 . We may never know why they did n’t just change the name to " Crown Hill " so they would only have to buy one letter to change all the signs .
Cypress Hills
The sprawl Cypress Hills Cemetery was incorporated on November 21 , 1848 by New York nation as a non - profit , non - sectarian constitution , and the ring neighborhood soon took its name .
Downtown Brooklyn
Downtown Brooklyn became the business hub of the borough largely because Fulton ’s steamer , which was the first human body of aggregate theodolite between Manhattan and Brooklyn , connected the area to New York ’s financial center .
Dyker Heights
Dyker Beach and Meadow is think to have beennamed after the Van Dykes , a Dutch family who split up the ground when it was part of New Utrecht , one of the original Dutch towns on Long Island . The overhang above it was disregarded as unfarmable for centuries before 1893 , when Walter L. Johnson inherited it and turn it into a livable suburban area mention after the beach below . Above is aPopular Science Monthlycross - section of Dyker Beach and Meadow from 1876 .
DUMBO
This acronym stands forDownUnder theManhattanBridgeOverpass and was coined in the seventies after artist began to transmigrate to the then - unnamed , sparsely populated former industrial hub between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges . The name was inspired by Manhattan ’s sing - song neighborhoods like SoHo and Tribeca .
East New York
East New York was the brainchild of John R. Pitkin , a rich merchandiser from Connecticut who began developing the area in 1835 . He want it to rival New York City , but an economical depression bankrupt those plans . East New York eventually became integrate into regular New York in 1897 . Sorry , John .
Flatlands
Jans Martense Schecnk House , ca . 1891
Flatlands was originally known by Dutch settlers as Nieuw Amersfoort . Once British linguistic rule set in , the name became " Flatlands " because the area was — hold back for it — matte . The neighborhood was primarily used for land tobacco and other crops .
Fort Greene
Here ’s a simple one : Fort Greene was once a fort . It was named after Nathanael Greene , a Major General in the Continental Army and one of George Washington ’s most trust officers . Washington withdrew troops from this earthen fort when he know the Battle of Long Island was lost , preventing further casualties .
Gerritsen Beach
This severely - to - access , crescent - shaped neighborhood adjacent to Marine Park is name for Wolfert Gerritsen , a 17th century settler . The orbit was mostly marsh until New Yorkers begin work up summer dwelling house there after the first World War .
Gowanus
refer after the canal , which itself was named after Gouwane , a chieftain of the Lenape ( also known as Canarsee ) tribe of Native Americans who lived in the area long before any Dutch or British the great unwashed came and started calling it " Brooklyn " or " Breuckelen . "
Gravesend
The origin of this neighborhood name was under some difference , but the line did n’t last long . Historical archeologist ( and Bayside , Queens house physician ) Richard Schaeffer settled it with a one - punch lulu of aletter to the editor in theNew York Times . TheTimeshad said that " Gravesend " comes from the British township where Lady Deborah Moody had migrated from . harmonize to Schaeffer , it actually comes from Dutch governor - full general William Kieft , who “ chose to name the settlement ' s- Gravesande after the township in Holland that had been the seat of the Counts of Holland before they strike to the Hague . It think of the count ’s sand or beach . The odd spelling , with hyphen and apostrophe , is an primitive Dutch possessive manakin . ”
So there .
Greenpoint
Early European colonist called a little , grassy bluff stick out out into the East River “ greenpoint , ” and the name stuck for the entire area . The original greenpoint would have been at the terminal of Freeman street , where a truck pace stomach now .
Mill Basin
This tiny protected peninsula inside Jamaica Bay was once the site of tidal mills , hence “ Mill Basin . ”
Navy Yard
This stretch of pier , channels , and dry docks on the East River became an official United States Navy Yard in 1806 and was in overhaul until 1966 . After a brusk menses of commercial shipbuilding , the Navy Yard has been out of marine inspection and repair since 1987 .
Park Slope and Prospect Heights
These adjacent neighborhood are both cite for Prospect Park . The name were similar when referring to the whole area for years until occupant and real estate brokers start firmly differentiating the two .
Red Hook
Red Hook , ca . 1875
Red Hook ’s name comes from the red soil detect at the point of South Brooklyn ( “ hoek ” is Dutch for “ point ” ) . Red Hook was of great strategical grandness in the defence of New York Harbor during the Revolutionary War . There ’s an IKEA there now , so score a surprising victory for the Swedes .
Sea Gate
Not many people acknowledge about Sea Gate , a petite beachside residential area turn up on the westerly peak of Coney Island . The area was originally named " Norton ’s Point " after a casino that once operated there , but the play industriousness was ushered out in 1892 in favour of a little , gated community . Hence , “ Sea Gate . ”
Sheepshead Bay
The sheepshead Pisces was such a democratic arrest in the 1800s in Brooklyn that they advert the sliver of a bay and the adjacent plot of land after it . Oddly , the sheepshead prefers much warm climate , but the funny - looking fish with human - like dentition could n’t get enough of Brooklyn . Nowadays , it ’s unmistakably uncommon to find one swim in the area . It ’s conjecture that pollution killed the oyster reefsthey fed on and eventually thinned out their numbers . That , or their rents got jacked up when yuppie fish moved in .
Sunset Park
Another neighborhood known simply as “ South Brooklyn ” for years , Sunset Park got its current name from the local park just to the south of Green - Wood Cemetery . The park extend terrifying view of the Manhattan visible horizon during sunsets , hence the name " Sunset Park . " If you are poetic at philia , sense free to assign the name as a sorrowful allusion to the neighboring burial site .
Williamsburg
This area along the East River was dubbed " Bushwick Shores " before it was purchase in 1802 by real estate investor Richard Woodhull . He named it " Williamsburgh " after Jonathan Williams , the engineer who surveyed the kingdom .
British Brooklyn
These vicinity names skip the anglicized Dutch and add up like a shot from towns in the UK .
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach got its name in 1878 after a group of business developers held a contest to decide what the area would be called .
Bath Beach
Bath Beach , which rests up against Gravesend Bay , is named for the township locate in the southwestern United States of England .
Kensington
Kensington , Flatbush ’s quiet and small neighbor , is named for the residential West London borough .
The Modest Men of Brooklyn
These three communities have one matter in common : The military personnel who found them meanly named each one after themselves .
Bensonhurst
In 1835 , Brooklyn Gas Light president Arthur W. Benson bought a magnanimous plot of farmland and developed it into a suburb he named Bensonhurst .
Brownsville
Browsnsville , ca . 1962
Two decades by and by , a man named Charles S. Brown subdivide a patch of unclaimed land between East New York and Bushwick and rename it Brownsville .
Lefferts Gardens
In 1893 , James Lefferts inherited a belt of Dutch farmland that he separate into 600 separate building lots for undivided - family home . That surface area , within Lefferts Gardens , still put up and goes by its original name , Lefferts Manor .
The Woods
Much of Brooklyn was at one prison term impenetrable woodlands , hence these names from the endlessly creative Dutch .
Midwood
Midwood , 1977
From “ Midwout , ” meaning “ middle woodwind instrument . ”
Flatbush
earlier “ Vlackte Bosch , " which means “ flat timber , " or " a plain with wood . "
Bushwick
evolve from “ Boswijck , ” entail “ short town in the Mrs. Henry Wood . ”
UPDATE : As many readers have aright direct out , this article take out Canarsie . The name " Canarsie " occur from a translation of what theoriginal Dutch settler name the Lenape Native Americanswho lived in what is now Brooklyn .
Also omitted : Vinegar Hill ( cite by Irish immigrants after the Battle of Vinegar Hill ) , Windsor Terrace ( which is said to have beencoined byRobert Bell , an early resident in the area ) , and Boro Park ( State Senator William H. Reynoldsbought the Edwin Herbert Land in 1898 and called it " Borough Park " ) .
All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons .
We ’re tardily process our way across the country . See how theneighborhoods in other citiesgot their name .
