# How did these New York cities get their names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682 "2011-01-06T23:56:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/21 "2011-01-07T13:51:02Z")
What I remember reading at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse is that the town of Syracuse sprung up near a brine spring lake which was found to be very productive as far as salt harvesting. In fact, IIRC, up into the early 20th century, most of the salt consumed in the US came from the Syracuse area. The exact salt producing site was named Salina by the early salt miners. When the nearby town later grew large enough to warrent its own name, the mucky mucks there decided to name it Syracuse, in reference to the ancient city of Syracuce on Scicily, which is itself located next to a small island named Salina. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/22 "2011-01-07T14:00:25Z")
Cairo Athens ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/23 "2011-01-07T14:42:19Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > That’s funny, there’s a Cairo, GA which is pronounced the same way. > > Of course, there’s also an Albany, GA that’s pronounced ‘All-binny’. It’s pronounced that way in NY too. Did you think otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/24 "2011-01-07T15:20:02Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > It’s pronounced that way in NY too. Did you think otherwise? Well, yeah. I always thought Albany was pronounced “All-beny” or “All-bany”. Having known people from up-state NY and living around here, the two pronounciations are markedly different. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/25 "2011-01-07T15:50:53Z")
Yeah, there was a lot of classical fervor back in the Revolutionary/early America days. A lot of people expressly compared the US to early republican Rome. Classical studies were a much bigger part of a standard education back then, so anyone who was somewhat educated was steeped in Homer and Virgil and whatnot, and Latin was a standard subject to study. Less-educated people still absorbed that atmosphere. That’s why buildings in Washington, and by extension most of our government buildings, have that pseudo-classical architecture. When George Washington stepped down from the presidency, everyone promptly labeled him the American [Cincinnatus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnatus) (so Cincinnati is another city named after a Roman). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/26 "2011-01-07T16:11:22Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Carthage is further north than most of the other cities and villages – there was for many years a high school football rivalry between Rome and Carthage. Please, please tell me it was traditional for Rome’s fans to wave salt-shakers menacingly at games. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/27 "2011-01-07T16:17:39Z")
Oh - and to chant “Carthago delenda est!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/28 "2011-01-07T16:20:03Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > It can’t be as creepy as Horseheads NY: [“The name is derived from the number of bleached skulls of pack horses left behind by the Sullivan Expedition.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseheads_%28village%29,_New_York) Or as mundane as Rockland. Which was named that due the fact there were a lot of rocks there. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/29 "2011-01-07T16:27:15Z")
Revolutionary war figures were another big source of names. We have counties named after Benjamin Franklin, Nathanael Greene, Alexander Hamilton, Nicholas Herkimer, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, James Madison, James Monroe, Richard Montgomery, Israel Putnam, Philip Schuyler, Friedrich von Steuben, John Sullivan, Joseph Warren, George Washington, and Anthony Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/30 "2011-01-07T16:48:44Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Also … a Moscow (pronounced Moss-coh) in Idaho, And within a few miles of Moscow ID are Wellesley, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Vassar, Cornell, and Purdue. Not all of which are viable towns today, some are just names on a map. All were at one time stations on a railroad, named by an early-day railway surveyor who was very proud of his Ivy-league education. Possibly influenced by the fact that Moscow is home to the University of Idaho…NOT Ivy League, hopelessly incapable of fielding a credible football team, but does have a reputation of being a top-notch research school 😛 SeldomSeen in Idaho these days ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/31 "2011-01-07T18:35:06Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Well, yeah. I always thought Albany was pronounced “All-beny” or “All-bany”. Having known people from up-state NY and living around here, the two pronounciations are markedly different. Up here, it’s said so fast that All-binny and All-benny pretty much sound the same. Never ever have I heard the ‘a’ in the ‘bany’ part pronounced with an ‘a’ sound. I’ve seen TV shows where they the actors would say the first syllable as “Al”, instead of “All”, clearly taking me out of the scene. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/32 "2011-01-07T19:13:44Z")
I thought “East Fishkill” was a heck of a name for a town until I found out that Kill was Dutch for stream. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/33 "2011-01-07T19:19:43Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I thought “East Fishkill” was a heck of a name for a town until I found out that Kill was Dutch for stream. Not to mention this [politically incorrect stream name](http://msrmaps.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=13&Z=18&X=366&Y=2967&W=1) near Albany. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/34 "2011-01-07T20:19:41Z")
The ablative absolute is a construction common in Latin, but rarely found in English, unless the writer had a classical education and was consciously modelling his style on Latin. _“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”_ People who aspired to be accepted as cultured were taught to admire and emulate the Greek and Roman civilizations. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/35 "2011-01-07T21:04:33Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Please, please tell me it was traditional for Rome’s fans to wave salt-shakers menacingly at games. Or better yet, after a victory plowed the football field under and doused it with salt. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/36 "2011-01-08T02:26:57Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > ‘Neck’ is often used in reference to a curved shore along a river or bay. So does this town have any curved shoreline in it? “Neck” is a common part of the names of the peninsulas of the north shore of Long Island (NY) and some parts thereof. Among others, Little Neck, Great Neck, Cow Neck, Hog Neck, Horse Neck (the latter three more historical than current). The peninsulas have very curved shorelines and some of these names may have started as names of smaller regions and then extended to names of the whole peninsula. > [@Topologist](#): > > Even further OT: Great Neck is not Great Egg, it’s Little Egg. :smack: I should know better than to post while sick (literally) and tired. What I meant was that West Egg and East Egg are not Little Neck and Great Neck but Great Neck and Cow Neck (Sands Point, really), respectively. I will now retire from the field. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682/37 "2011-01-08T06:59:04Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > It can’t be as creepy as Horseheads NY: [“The name is derived from the number of bleached skulls of pack horses left behind by the Sullivan Expedition.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseheads_%28village%29,_New_York) [Slackers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-Smashed-In_Buffalo_Jump). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-new-york-cities-get-their-names/566682.md?page=1)