To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what town we were in. It was an undergrad geology field trip (hence back in the mists of time 
); we were making our way eastward from Gouverneur to Gore Mountain. I suppose it could have been the town of Oswegatchie itself. What I do remember was stopping for lunch at a pretty little riverside park area, with a gazebo nearby, and the name of the river on a sign.
Even though I originally hail from Fredonia, I have long given up saying I am from “Western NY”. Furthermore, there really aren’t any meaty Indian place names in the Hudson Valley (the closest one I am familiar with is Skaneateles, which may or may not be upstate depending on your view.)
But I totally forgot about Cheektowaga, Tonawanda, and Lackawanna when writing this thread, thanks for reminding me!
Per the above, I need to amend this to say “except among Niagara Frontiersmen and -women,” who evidently live in a world of their own.
Skaneateles, being in Onondaga County in dead Central New York, is most assuredly Upstate (except by the rather odd definition that restricts “Upstate” to the Genesee Valley and neighboring uplands).
Sunfish, if my guess is correct, I helped get the money to build that park and gazebo! The town would be Harrisville; the consulting company I last worked for before moving south did quite a lot of work for them, including getting them a state grant for half the money to put in that park.
Except that those are Dutch names, not Indian ones (with an asterisk for Schenectady, whose origin is Indian based, but Dutch spelling).
And why just upstate NY? Consider Long Island, too:
Ronkonkoma
Cutchogue
Mattituck
Quogue
Peconic
Sagaponack
Setauket
Massapequa
Manhasset
Asharoken
Copiague
Can I just take this opportunity to say that I’m originally from Tonawanda?
If you don’t mind going over to Connecticut, I’ll toss in:
Cockaponset (State Forest)
Nassahegan (State Forest)
Coginchaug (High School named after a local stream)
Pattaconk (Lake)
Are you sure about Poughkeepsie being a Dutch name? I thought the origin was somewhat unclear but was believed to be based on an Algonquin term meaning “watering place by the big river”, or something like that. I am prepared to be disabused of that notion however.
Laughing Lagomorph who graduated from High School in Poughkeepsie but really didn’t live there very long.
Darn, I missed the chance to bring up Cheektowaga, my personal favorite upstate Indian name. But, honestly, the Indian names don’t really bother me. (Part of that may be having gone to Pompositicutt Elementary School warped my little brain for life.) It’s the name out of classical literature and history that boggle my mind:
[ul]
[li]Ovid[/li][li]Homer[/li][li]Marathon[/li][li]Rome[/li][li]Romulus, too[/li][li]Ithaca[/li][li]Cicero[/li][li]Tyre[/li][/ul]
Then there are the names that are just ODD to think of being in New York State:
[ul]
[li]Cuba[/li][li]Montezuma Flats[/li][li]Mexico[/li][li]Greece[/li][/ul]
Of course, those aren’t any worse than Florida, Massachusetts. 
I live in Orange County, New York. To folks from Brooklyn, I live Upstate. However, when someone asks where I live and I say Upstate, and upon being informed of where they bust into gales of laughter and say, " fellah I grew up in Watertown, you are not Upstate"… I can hardly argue.
I would go with your rough definitions, however. The circle grows wider as to which counties are considered “bedroom commuter counties” vis a vis NYC. When Sullivan is considered an okay ride ( 97 miles from Liberty to MidTown ), and folks in Yardley, PA commute daily up through NJ into NYC, then Upstate might need some adjusting.
I feel like I live Upstate, despite the fact that the air I breathe is fouled by coal burning plants from Ohio, for cripes’ sake and the air quality is on par with that of New York City proper. I’m ten minutes from Registered Holsteins, and 20 minutes from a Horse Farm. I’m less than 10 minutes from fresh eggs, too. ( That will change soon, due to a land sale deal that has a lot of Southern Orange County in an uproar ).
Cartooniverse
Well, I grew up in Watertown, for real, so next time he bursts into gales of laughter, cite me as your authority! 
Virgil
Cincinnatus
Solon
No mystery why our local ski resort is called Greek Peak.
–Snort-- And you seem so…normal.
Yer not Upstate.
(grew up in Wappingers Falls, but now live in Watervliet. Hmm, W-towns, never noticed that before).
New York? Bah! Cherokee and Muscogee geographical names are much more musical:
Chattahoochee
Apalachee
Tennessee
Oostenala
Oconee
Coosa
Nickajack
Chattooga
Chattanooga
Armuchee
Ocoee
Nantahala
Okeefenokee
Hiawassee
Suwanee
Etowah
If by "musical you mean “containing as many ee sounds as possible.” Nasty tinny sort of sounds. Much prefer nice woody sounds like Canastota or Niskayuna or Waccabuc.
It was a hard struggle, but I recovered from it!
I lived in Cheektowaga (land of the crabapple) as a wee Goob. The current Châteaux le Goob isn’t that far away.
All my favorite names have been mentioned, just dropped in to say that Western New York is techinically upstate, we will never ever call ourselves that. WKBW isn’t the same without Irv’s intro’s to the fire of the day stories now that he retired. Says something about how dull Buffalo is when that’s a highlight of the evening news.
By musical, I mean euphonious. Pleasing to the ear.
Way too many harsh consonants those New York names. “Woody” is right. About as pleasing to the ear as an axe hacking at an ash tree.
By comparison, Cherokee and Muscogee names sound like flowing water. 
Hows about some from Da City?
Neponsit,
Pomonok,
Canarsie,
Gowanus,
And, of course, Manhattan.