Long Island Places and What They Used to Be Called

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Long Island, New York, United States

Today we think of Long Island, New York as those communities in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, but prior to 1898, Long Island also consisted of Queens and Kings Counties. In fact, much of what is Nassau County was in Queens County as Nassau County did not exist. It is also interesting to know that much of Eastern Long Island was under control of Connecticut in colonial times. The rest was part of New Amsterdam and the rule of the Dutch.

This page is an attempt to identify the places found in records that may not be in usage today.

Places No Longer In Existance

The following places no longer exist, but may still be important.

Place	Significance	Location	Remarks
Guinea Town	first free black community in Old Westbury	corner of Glen Cove Rd and Long Island Expressway access road	land was given by the Hicks family for it's establishment

Long Island Places as They Used to Be Called

It may be helpful in your research to understand where families lived. It is also interesting that some modern place names have been "recycled" and used now in a different location. One example is Queen's Village which is now Lloyd Neck, near Huntington of Nassau County. There is now a Queens Village which is far to the west near Jamaica, Queens.

Indigenous or Other Previous Name	Current or Later Name	Meaning	Remarks
Acquobogue	Riverhead	the head of the bay
Agawam	Southampton	a place abounding in fish
Ashford	Setauket
Barnum Island	Island Park		purchased by Sara Ann Barnum, widow of Peter Barnum, wealthy owner of a clothing company; she sold it to Nassau County where it was a poor farm and had a smallpox hospital
Bennett's Point	Long Island City
Bever Pond	Jamaica
Bloomfield	Lynbrook	refers to the fields near the Five Corners that were blooming
Breslau	Lindenhurst	name given by German settlers to the area
Brookfield	Yaphank
The Brush Plains	Suffolk County
Brushville	Queens
Buckram	Locust Valley	prob. a corruption of Buckhanam, Norfolk, the seat of the Cock family who were early settlers of Locust Valley
Bullhead	Bridgehampton
Bungy	Westville
Burger Joris Kills	Dutch Kills
Bushville	Queens
Canarasset	Jamaica
Cape de Baye	Long Island Sound
Capo di Olympo	Long Island, western
Carle's Place	Carle Place	named after the Carle family
Caroway	Coram	name of a Native American chief
Caumsett	Lloyds Neck	"place by a sharp rock"
Cherry Point	Greenpoint
Clinktown	East Rockaway	may refer to a boat construction technique - clink-building
Clinton Bay	Flushing Bay
Cometico	Greenlawn
Conetquot	Fireplace
Conomock	Fresh Pond
Conscience Bay	Oldfields Bay
Cornbury	Little Neck
Cow Bay	Manhasset Bay
Cow Neck	Manhasset
Cow Neck	North Hempstead
Cow Neck	Sands Point		Cow Neck ended at Sands Point
Cow Neck Village	Port Washington
Crawford	Jamaica
Cromwell Bay	Setauket Bay
Dick Pechegan's wigwam	Dix Hills	a historical marker notes the location of Dick Pechegan's wigwam and fields he planted	changed Dick's to Dix
Domine's Hoeck	Long Island City
Drown(ed) Meadow	Port Jefferson		the salt marshes located on the harbor at the northern end of the village used to flood with the tides twice daily
East Hempstead	Uniondale
East Woods	Syosset (Oyster Bay)
Eaton Manor	Eaton Neck
English Kills	Newtown Creek
The Farms	Jericho
Farret's Island	Shelter Island
Feversham	Bridgehampton
Fisher's Hook	Long Island Sound (several islands at the entrance)	where indigenous people lived and fished as their livelihood
Flushing	Westbury		Interesting because now there is a Flushing in Queens County, whereas Westbury is toward eastern Nassau County
Folestone	Oyster Bay
Fort Neck	Cutchogue		was the home of Moughmaitow or Momoweta, Sachem of Cutchogue and the outlines of his fort can be seen in the village
Gardiner's Neck	Easton Neck
Garretson's Bay	Little Neck Bay or Manhasset Bay	named for Martin Garretson	it is under dispute which bay it refers to
Good Ground	Hampton Bays
Great Cow Harbour	Northport
Half Way Hollow Valley	Half Hollow Hills	is located halfway between the ocean and the Long Island Sound
Hallet's Cove	Astoria
Hard Scrabble	Farmingdale
Hastings	Newtown
Hempstead Harbor	Roslyn
Hempstead Plains	Garden City	a great, flat expanse of land	also included Uniondale and New Hyde Park
Hempstead Plains	New Hyde Park	a great, flat expanse of land	also included Uniondale and Garden City
Hempstead Plains	Uniondale	a great, flat expanse of land	also included Garden City and New Hyde Park
Hither Woods (purchase)	Montauk Point	at the east or eastwards	Wompi means white; wompan is dawn , day-break; where daylight comes from; the east
Hog Island	Island Park	used as pasture for hogs
Horse Neck	Lloyds Neck	where Huntington farmers would graze their horses	now named for the Lloyd family that settled there 1711
Horse Neck	Great Neck
Howe's Bay	Manhasset Bay
Hunter's Point	Long Island City
Huntington South	Deer Park
Huppogues	Smithtown	beaver place	name given by the Narragansett
Ihpetonga	Brooklyn Heights	a high, sandy hill
The Indian Field	Montauk Point
Islant de Gebrokne Lant	Long Island, western
Isle de l'Ascension	Long Island, western
Isle of Sterling	Long Island, western
Isle Plowden	Long Island, western
Isle of Patmos	Plum Island
Jacques Farm	Astoria	named for Jacques Bentyn, and early settler of Newtown
Jekyll Island	Island Park
Jemaco	Jamaica
Jerusalem	Wantagh		named by the Society of Friends
Kanapauka Kills	Dutch Kills
Keskaechquerem	Canarsie
Konkhongauk	Fort Ponds
Lakeland	Bohemia		named changed after an influx of immigrants from the Czech Republic
Lakeville (LI)	Lake Success	overlooking Success Pond (now Lake Success)
Lang Eylant	Long Island		named by Dutch explorer, Adriaen Block, when he mapped it out
Lawrence's Neck	College Point
Little Cow Harbour	Centreport
Little Cow Neck	Plandome
Littleworth	Glenwood
Lusum	Jericho
Lynmouth	Malverne		never actually called this since it is too close a name to Lynbrook
Madnank	Great Neck
Madnan's Neck	Great Neck
Mad Nan's Neck	Great Neck
Maidstone	East Hampton
Manati	Locust Valley
Manetto Hill	Plainview	Manetto, a Native American word for "god"	land purchased partly by Robert Williams in 1648 and later by Thomas Powell in his 1695 Bethpage purchase and a tiny farming community formed; possibly Farmingdale
Manhansack-aha-qushu-wamock	Shelter Island	a Native-American phrase that means an island sheltered by other islands
Manhassett Bay	Manhassett Bay
Manotasoquat	Blue Point
Martin Gerretsen's Bay	Oyster Bay Harbor
Martin Gerretsen's Bay	Little Neck Bay, Hempstead
Mashpate	Maspeth
Maspeth Kills	Newtown Creek
Massapeag	Oyster Bay		Interesting because present day Oyster Bay is on the north shore and Massapequa is on the south shore
Mastic Acres	Shirley		named for the developer, Walter T. Shirley; there were plans at one time to change the name to Floyd Harbor
Matouwacs	Long Island, western		On a map of 1635; it was called Mattanwake by the indigenous people. See Doc. Hist. N.Y., vol. i.
Matowa	Long Island		See Col. Hist. N.Y, vol. XIV. p. 30.
Mattanwake	Long Island, western
Méht-anaw-ack	Long Island	the land of the periwinkle or country of the ear-shell (varieties of shellfish	this term was applied to denote the shape of the island
Meitowacks	Long Island		This name used in the charter of Charles II to his brother Duke of York. See Thompson's L. I., vol. i, p. 19.
Merogies	Moriches
Merosuck	Canoe Place		need to find out where this is
Mespatches	Maspeth
Metsepe	Maspeth
Middleburgh	Newtown
Midwout	Flatbush
Miniolagamika	Mineola	a pleasant village	name shortened to be easier to pronounce
Minnoseroke	Little Neck Bay, Brookhaven
Modern Times	Brentwood	a Utopian society	now named after Brentwood, Essex in England
Mohican	Locust Valley
Mohican	Montauk Point
Monchonock	Gardiner's Island	a place where many have died
Montaukett	Montauk Point
Muscota	Glen Cove
Musketa Cove	Glen Cove		name sounded too much like mosquito and they wanted to attract tourists from NYC; it may have been named for a Scottish place Glen Coe
Musquito Cove	Glen Cove	a grassy flat, subject to overflow
Nachaquatuck	Cold Spring
Nahigans	Long Island, eastern	people of the point	This was found on a map dated 1616 and was probably an error as the Narragansetts were known as the Nanhigganeuck
Narrioch	Coney Island
Najack Bay	Fort Hamilton
Near Rockaway	East Rockaway		it was nearer to the center of commerce (Hempstead) than Far Rockaway
Neguntatogue	Lindenhurst	forsaken land
Newark	Flushing
Newarke	Glenwood
New Village	Centereach	located in the center of Long Island, hence, center reached	New Village already taken when they wanted a post office
Nonowoutuck	Mount Sinai
The Normans' Kill	Bushwick Creek
The North Sea	Long Island Sound
The North Neck	Montauk Point
Norwood	Malverne		name changed at the request of the post office due to confusion with other towns in New York state
Occombomock	Bellport
Ocean Point	Cedarhurst		when the post office opened it was near a grove of cedar trees (hurst)
Old Fields	Greenlawn
Old Mans	Mount Sinai	the name of a favorite tavern	the post office said that was not a proper name, so they selected Mt Vernon - which was already taken, so, allegedly, the new postmaster took out a Bible, closed his eyes, opened it up, and stabbed with a needle using the closest name to the needle
Pammanack (1656-1658)	Long Island, from the eastern point to Queens	Pomman or Pauman means contributes, as money; ack, land	began about 1639 until the death of Weoncombone, son of Wyandance; it was meant to acknowledge the interdependence of the settlers and the indigenous peoples during this time period
Pamunke (1648-1656)	Long Island, from the eastern point to Queens	Pomman or Pauman means contributes, as money; ack, land	began about 1639 until the death of Weoncombone, son of Wyandance; it was meant to acknowledge the interdependence of the settlers and the indigenous peoples during this time period
Panquacumsuck	Wading River
Parson's Corners	Lynbrook
Paumanhacky	Long Island, from the eastern point to Queens	Pomman or Pauman means contributes, as money; ack, land	began about 1639 until the death of Weoncombone, son of Wyandance; it was meant to acknowledge the interdependence of the settlers and the indigenous peoples during this time period
Pauquaconsuck	Wading River Creek	suck means a brook or outlet of any stream
Pauquacusuck	Wading River Creek	suck means a brook or outlet of any stream
Pawmanack (1658-1659)	Long Island, from the eastern point to Queens	Pomman or Pauman means contributes, as money; ack, land	began about 1639 until the death of Weoncombone, son of Wyandance; it was meant to acknowledge the interdependence of the settlers and the indigenous peoples during this time period
Paumanuck, Paumanche (1659-1665)	Long Island, from the eastern point to Queens	Pomman or Pauman means contributes, as money; ack, land	began about 1639 until the death of Weoncombone, son of Wyandance; it was meant to acknowledge the interdependence of the settlers and the indigenous peoples during this time period
Pearsalls	Lynbrook		after an influx of Brooklyn natives, they decided to switch the name to Lyn-Brook instead of Brook-Lyn
Pearsall's Corners	Lynbrook	after the Pearsall family
Pearsallville	Lynbrook
Pembroke	Glen Cove
Pink's Hollow	Brookville
The Place	Glen Cove
Pommanocc (1639-1648)	Long Island, from the eastern point to Queens	Pomman or Pauman means contributes, as money; ack, land	began about 1639 until the death of Weoncombone, son of Wyandance; it was meant to acknowledge the interdependence of the settlers and the indigenous peoples during this time period
Pommanock (1665)	Long Island, from the eastern point to Queens	Pomman or Pauman means contributes, as money; ack, land	began about 1639 until the death of Weoncombone, son of Wyandance; it was meant to acknowledge the interdependence of the settlers and the indigenous peoples during this time period
Poquat	Dyer's Neck
Poquatuck	Oyster Ponds
Porchog	Patchogue	shortening of Panochanog, the place where they gamble and dance
Punk's Hole	Manorville
Quaspeck	Rockland Lake	used to be land in Rockland County belonging to Daniel Whitehead
Queen's Village	Lloyd's Neck
Raconkamucik	Ronkonkoma
Raynorsville	Freeport
Rechouwacky	Rockaway
Recqua-Akie	Lynbrook
Red Hook	Babylon
Ridgewood Station	Wantagh railroad stop		when the post office arrived, Ridgewood was already taken, so a contest was held by members of the Congregational Church to rename the village
Rockaway	Lynbrook
Rockaway Neck	Lawrence		renamed for 3 brothers who developed the village to create high-end housing for people from NYC
Rockconcomuck	Ronkonkoma
Rustdorp	Jamaica
Saghtekoos	Appletree Neck		Need to find out where this is
Scheyer's Island	Coney Island
Seal Island	Fire Island
Seaville	Sayville	typo stuck
Seawanhaka	Long Island, western	popularly translated to the island of shells, however, sewan or seawan means scattered, loose and was the term used by the Dutch for wampum; hacky is land or country	seen in very early Dutch records
Setauket South (or Setaucut South)	Fireplace
Sewanhacking	Long Island, western	popularly translated to the island of shells, however, sewan or seawan means scattered, loose and was the term used by the Dutch for wampum; hacky is land or country	seen in very early Dutch records
Seawanhacky	Long Island, western	popularly translated to the island of shells, however, sewan or seawan means scattered, loose and was the term used by the Dutch for wampum; hacky is land or country	seen in very early Dutch records
Sharp's Point	Oldfield's Point
Sherawog	St. James
Siekrewhacky	Fire Island	a corruption of Five Islands, once the number of islets now joined in one long bar
Siketeuhacky	Secatogue Neck, Islip	oc, hoc, or hocki means that which covers as a garment
Sintsinck	Manhasset
Sion	Long Island, western
Slongo	Sunken Meadow
Snake Hill	St. Ronan's Well		?
Sonasset	Port Jefferson
South Bay	Oceanside	in 1674 called Christian Hook; later Oceanville in 1864	since there was already and Oceanville in NY Ocean Side was adopted in 1890
South Haven	Fireplace
South Oyster Bay	Massapequa
Southton	Southampton
Sowasset	Port Jefferson	place of small pines or where water opens
Sterling Harbour	Greenport
Suanhacky	Long Island, western	popularly translated to the island of shells, however, sewan or seawan means scattered, loose and was the term used by the Dutch for wampum; hacky is land or country	seen in very early Dutch records
Sunk Meadow	King's Park
Sunquam	Melville
Sunswick	Astoria
Susco's Wigwam	Brookville
Sweet('s) Hollow	Melville
Sweezey's Hollow	Woodville
Sylvester's Island	Shelter Island
'T Beeren Eylandt	Barren Island	The Bears' Island
'T Conijen Eylandt	Coney Island
'T Cromme Gouwe	Peconic Bay	The Crooked Bay
'T Groodt Baie	Long Island Sound
'T Helle Gadt Rivier	The East River
'T Kreupel Bosch	Cripplebush		need to find this place
'T Oostwout	New Lots
'T Schout's Baie	Manhasset Bay
Tew's Neck	College Point
Thorne's Point	Willet's Point	named for William Thorne who came to Flushing in 1642
Toyong	Southold
Turkeyville	Plainedge
Unkway Neck	Massapequa
Van Brunt's Neck	Dyer's Neck		?
Vlachte-bosch	Flatbush
Visscher's Hoeck	Montauk Point
Vlissingen	Flushing
Wallage	Westbury	named by family founder, Edmund Titus, from his English home in Wiltshire
Wampanamon	Montauk Point
Wamponomon	Locust Valley
Waverly	Holtsville		the name was changed when the post office arrived because Waverly was already taken in New York state; the postmaster's name was Holt
Wayumscutt	Wainscott
West Middle Island	Centereach
Westfield	Selden		Westfield already taken when the post office opened; named after famous NY judge and lieutenant governor, Henry Selden
West Neck	Amityville
Wigwam Swamp	College Point
Winkle Point	Huntington	located on Eaton's Neck	named for the quantities of shellfish found there
Winnecomack	Comac	a beautiful place	probably modern day Commack
Winthrop's Island	Fisher's Island
Wolver Hollow	Brookville
Wompenanit	Montauk Point
Wompenoonot	Montauk Point
Womponamon	Montauk Point
Woodedge	Westville
Wopowoag	Stony Brook
Yaphank	Melville
Yonkers	St. Ronan's Well	an estate belonging to Adrian van der Donck	?

Sources

• Collections of the New-York Historical Society for the year 1892, New York : Printed for the Society, 1893; digital images, Google Books, (https://books.google.com : accessed July 2023).
• Cohen, LS. "Long Island Towns That Used to be Called Something Else and Why," Long Island.com (https://www.longisland.com : accessed 19 July 2023).
• Coonan, David. " 'What's in a Name?' 300 Years of Lynbrook History," Patch (https://patch.com : accessed 19 July 2023).
• Flint, Martha Bockée. Early Long Island, a Colonial Study, New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1896; Pdf retrieved from the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/01028287/ : accessed 9 October 2023).
• Moore, Charles B, The Early History of Hempstead (Long Island), New York: Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, 1879; database with images, (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 22 July 2023), Reprinted from The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. X., No. 1, January, 1879; Page Count: 48; Owning Institution: Internet Archive; Publisher Digital: Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center; Access Level: Public.
• Tooker, William Wallace. The Indian Names for Long Island, New York : Francis P. Harper, 1901; digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 18 July 2023).
• Velsor, Kathleen G. The Underground Railroad on Long Island: Friends In Freedom, United States : Arcadia Publishing, 2013; preview, Google Books (https://books.google.com : accessed 28 July 2023).