NATIVE AMERICAN NAMES //

Long Island, New York has retained the names of native American places from Brooklyn to Montauk.

Map shows eastern LI and northern area with similar Algonquin culture.

I was always quirious what the translation of these names were in English. Growing up partially in Lake Ronkonkoma I was directly exposed to one of these American Indian words. I was told early on that Ronkonkoma meant "Glittering white sands." This I found out later was incorrect. Ronkonkoma means "boundary fishing place."

The many tribes originally on Long Island were part the Algonquian language. Where the lake sat in the middle of Long Island was a natural dividing line or boundary for four tribes in the area. The Nissequogues, Setaukets, to the North, Secatogues and Unkechaugs to the south. Though they had a common root language, different dialects developed.

When European settlers eventually displaced the Indians, their native language also disappeared. There were few people that were bilingual who might have been able to preserve the languages at the time. Many of these dialects are now extinct with the true meaning of what their words meant.

Here are a few translated names of towns on Long Island.

Amagansett .... place of good water

Cutchogue ... principle place (area where many lived)

Coram ... valley between the hills

Nissequogue, Patchogue, Shinnecock, and Montauk. ... These are towns in eastern LI, named after four tribes that lived there.

Canarsie, Rockaway, Matinecock, Merrick, Massapequa, and Manhasset. ... These are towns in western LI, also named after the Indians that lived in those areas.

Most of the rivers have retained their Indian names. the three principle ones in the eastern part of the Island are Nissequogue, Connentquot and Peconic.

Connectquot ... great river

Peconic ... derived from an Indian word meaning "nut trees"

There are two Indian Reservations on Long Island. Populated by descendants of the native people

Shinnecocks ... in the Town of Southampton, which is the bigger of the two. There are over 1,200 members that live in and around the Reservation.

Shinnecock Res.

Poospatuck ... in the town of Mastic. Poospatuck is the name of the area, tuck referring to a place name. The name of the tribe is Unkechaug. Unfortunately the meaning was never recorded. Poospatuck is the smallest Reservation in New York State of 250 people.

Pictures from .. duckduckjgo.com Images
Information source ... discoverlongisland.com