Brooklyn Neighborhood Names
Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope--and more
Sep 21, 2009
From the Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island, Bedford Stuyvesyant to Willliamsburg, Brooklyn as a borough quickly dissolves into a patchwork quilt of distinctive neighborhoods, some dating back centuries.
Brooklyn's History is Captured in its Neighborhood Names
Come to think of it, what makes a neighborhood, and who gets to decide not only what the boundaries are, but what they are called?
In the case of two quintessential Italian neighborhoods of yesteryear, who was Carroll of Carrol Gardens, or Benson of Bensonhurst?
And, what's with the sunset from Sunset Park, and, um, what's so green about Greenpoint?
As the city changes, new neighborhoods are carved out. Old neighborhoods are renamed. In the past, Brooklyn's neighborhood names were based on geography (for instance, Greenpoint and Park Slope), famous individuals (for instance, Clinton Hill and Bensonhurst) or other famous places (such as Brighton Beach).
It's fun, cheap, and cool to learn about "what's in a name" in Brooklyn's neighborhoods.
Bay Ridge
- Known first as Yellow Hook for the yellow clay in its soil, the name was changed in 1853 after NYC suffered a bout of yellow fever. The spectacular views from a ridge overlooking the entrance to New York Bay gave Bay Ridge its current name.
Bedford Stuyvesant
- Bedford and Stuyvesant were two separate communities until the middle of the 20th century. While they retain some of their original differences, the combined name has been in use since the 1930s. Some experts say it gained prominence in 1931 when the newspaper the Brooklyn Eagle reported on racial conflict between blacks in Bedford and whites in Stuyvesant; others suggest that it was coined by the Brooklyn Con Edison Company.
Bensonhurst
- Bensonhurst was named after the Benson family, resident cabbage and potato farmers in the mid 1800s.
Borough Park
- This area was named after a large real estate development, Borough Park, east of New Utrecht Ave.
Brighton Beach
- This now famously Russian area was originally named after England's most distinguished seaside resort, Brighton Beach was developed in the 1880s as a posh competitor with nearby Coney Island.
Brooklyn Heights
- This area was dubbed "the Heights" because of the knoll, now the Promenade, that overlooks New York Harbor. Brooklyn of course is a corruption of the name "Breukelen," the 18th century Dutch township.
Carroll Gardens
- Originally a section of Red Hook or South Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens was named after Maryland's Charles Carroll, the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, in honor of the Maryland regiment that fought nearby in the Revolutionary War.
Clinton Hill
- Clinton Hill is literally up a hill from Fort Greene Park. It was a fashionable 19th-century residential area named for New York governor De Witt Clinton. The boundary between Fort Green and Clinton Hill is Vanderbilt Avenue.
Cobble Hill
- In the 1950s, a real estate broker discovered that this area had been designated "Cobles Hill" on a 1766 map of New York. The name referred to a long-gone hill near the intersection of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue.
Coney Island
- However ridiculous it may sound, the story goes that when the Dutch first discovered this area, it was overrun with rabbits. So they called it "rabbit Island", which in Dutch is Konijn (Coney) Eiland. Go figure.
Fort Greene
- Fort Greene is named for Nathaniel Greene, a general in the Battle of Long Island during the Revolutionary War.
Greenpoint
- Not surprisingly, Brooklyn's northernmost point was once covered in trees, hence the name Green Point, now Greenpoint.
Midwood
Midwood is from the Dutch Midwout, or "middle woods"--and, in fact, many streets are still tree-lined.
Park Slope
- This now-well known neighborhood has a no-nonsense name: it is built on a gentle slope down from Prospect Park.
Prospect Park South
- The houses in this lovely area were designed to be an extension of the nearby and then-elegant Prospect Park. The entrances to this enclave still carry the initials PPS engraved in brick.
Sheepshead Bay
- This waterfront community is named for the sheepshead, a once common fish in nearby waters, but now long gone thanks to urban pollution.
Sunset Park
- The mixed Asian-Latino community known today as Sunset Park took its name in the 1960s from the local park, which sits high above surrounding streets and commands a stunning view of New York Bay, especially, of course, at sunset. Previously it was just known as part of Bay Ridge (the southern part) or called, simply, "South Brooklyn."
Williamsburg
- Willliamsburg was named in 1810 after the man who surveyed the area, Colonel John Williams, reputedly a grand-nephew of Benjamin Franklin. The original spelling included an "h" at the end; only a few places, such as the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, still use the old spelling.
Learning More About Brooklyn's Neighborhoods and their Histories
Whereas twenty years ago it was hard to find a single book about Brooklyn on the shelves of a bookstore, today there are dozens. In fact, there's an i entire book on the topic; for further information see Brooklyn by Name: How the Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks, Bridges and More Got Their Names by Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss. And, of course, one can always learn more at the Brooklyn Historical Society.
Dozens of Brooklyn neighborhoods have long roots that run deep into New York City's history. Learning how each area got its name is fascinating, and sometimes surprising, for newcomers, residents and tourists.
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