# Delmarva Peninsula - Why roads with "Neck" in the name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645 "2012-11-20T21:04:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/1 "2012-11-20T21:04:53Z")
[SIZE=3]I drove through the Delmarva Penensula the other day and noticed a lot of necks in road names. I got on Google maps and within 15 had I noticed:[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Batts Neck Rd Cabin Neck Rd Great Neck Rd Cox Neck Rd Sportsman Neck Rd Goldsborough Neck Rd Landing Neck Rd Beaver Neck Rd Poplar Neck Rd\* What is the deal? [FONT=Calibri]Is this a new definition of neck that lends itself to road names? Is this a cultural/geographical thing?[/FONT] [/SIZE] \*Some of these may have been a lane, circle, or whatever. They were roads in general. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/2 "2012-11-20T21:09:53Z")
Neck is a local term for a peninsula, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/3 "2012-11-20T21:23:23Z")
It’s not just a local term; one of the dictionary definitions of “neck” is “a narrow or elongated projecting strip of land; a peninsula or isthmus.” See, for example, [Throggs Neck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throggs_Neck) or [Northern Neck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Neck). ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/4 "2012-11-20T21:31:54Z")
There is a golf course just east of Queenstown called Hog Neck, which doesn’t sound right. Hogs Neck sounds right, but it is Hog. Related is the Northern Neck of Virginia. Took me forever to realize that it is so named because it is the northern-most of the two peninsulas. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/5 "2012-11-20T21:48:28Z")
I was able to identify 7 necks in Massachusetts without trying very hard. (Bearskin, Rocky, Marblehead, Hough’s, Town, Great, and Sandy.) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/6 "2012-11-20T21:51:28Z")
In New York: Great Neck, Rye Neck, Eaton Neck, Little Neck, and Hewlett Neck off the top of my head. There are probably a few others. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/7 "2012-11-20T21:56:52Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > In New York: Great Neck, Rye Neck, Eaton Neck, Little Neck, and Hewlett Neck off the top of my head. There are probably a few others. I live on what used to be called Cow Neck. I suppose that didn’t sit too well with some of the local inhabitants; it was the model for East Egg in The Great Gatsby, to give you an idea of who those inhabitants were. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/8 "2012-11-20T22:25:22Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > It’s not just a local term; one of the dictionary definitions of “neck” is “a narrow or elongated projecting strip of land; a peninsula or isthmus.” See, for example, [Throggs Neck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throggs_Neck) or [Northern Neck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Neck). Interesting. I tried to find something on neck in wikipedia, but I couldn’t find anything enlightening. I should have tried the dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/9 "2012-11-20T22:27:24Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > It’s not just a local term; one of the dictionary definitions of “neck” is “a narrow or elongated projecting strip of land; a peninsula or isthmus.” See, for example, [Throggs Neck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throggs_Neck) or [Northern Neck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Neck). Cool. I just said local because I grew up in Maryland with necks everywhere, but here in southern Ohio I haven’t run into any. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/10 "2012-11-20T22:35:44Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Cool. I just said local because I grew up in Maryland with necks everywhere, but here in southern Ohio I haven’t run into any. Well, looking at the map of southern Ohio, I can see why you might not need a word for penninsula. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/11 "2012-11-20T23:13:56Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > In New York: Great Neck, Rye Neck, Eaton Neck, Little Neck, and Hewlett Neck off the top of my head. There are probably a few others. You have a neck off the top of your head? :eek: Were you born upside-down? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/12 "2012-11-21T15:55:54Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Cool. I just said local because I grew up in Maryland with necks everywhere, but here in southern Ohio I haven’t run into any. You mean you haven’t run into any in your neck of the woods? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/13 "2012-11-21T18:49:28Z")
It’s a real pain in the neck, too. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/14 "2012-11-21T20:50:56Z")
Had an aunt who lived in Colt’s Neck, NJ. I always thought of the horse anatomly, not a pennisula. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/15 "2012-11-21T23:29:42Z")
It’s funny, living on the Eastern Shore I can track your journey just from the names of the necks you mentioned. Ended up somewhere in Dorchester County? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/16 "2012-11-22T07:12:47Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Well, looking at the map of southern Ohio, I can see why you might not need a word for penninsula. 🙂 Well, meanders in big rivers create peninsulas of a sort, and I even seem to remember a few of them being called “Xxx Neck”… Probably on the Connecticut River. And the Hudson has a few “necks”, I’m pretty sure, mainly long, narrow former islands that got attached to the shoreline over hundreds of years of sediment movement. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/17 "2012-11-22T18:50:06Z")
The area surrounding the Delaware Bay in rife with “Necks” mostly used as part of street names. I grew up on Upper Neck Rd and some 20 miles away, my friend lived on Back Neck Rd. The only connection between the two areas were that they bordered on streams and inlets that jutted off the Maurice River. I always assumed Neck in place name meant the area bordered on a “neck” of a larger body of water. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delmarva-peninsula-why-roads-with-neck-in-the-name/641645/18 "2012-11-23T15:44:13Z")
I believe that in some cases, expecially New York, it may be a corruption of the Dutch names Van Eyck or Ten Eyck; Eyck, I believe, means “oak.”