Dutch Place Names in New York City: From New Amsterdam to the Five Boroughs

New York City's Dutch origins (New Netherland, 1624–1664) survive in neighborhood names across the boroughs. The 1664 English takeover renamed the colony "New York" but preserved many Dutch toponyms — often Anglicized beyond recognition.

Manhattan

• New Amsterdam → Lower Manhattan (original settlement, 1625)
• Harlem → Nieuw Haarlem (1658) — named for Haarlem, Netherlands
• Greenwich Village → Groenwijck (pine district)
• Stuyvesant (Stuyvesant Town, Stuyvesant High) → Peter Stuyvesant, last Dutch director-general
• Bowery → Bouwerij (farm) — Stuyvesant's farm road
• Wall Street → De Walstraat — palisade wall (1653)
• Canal Street → Heere Gracht (canal, filled 1819)
• Broadway → Brede Weg (wide road) — originally Heeren Wegh

Brooklyn

• Brooklyn → Breukelen (town in Utrecht province)
• Bushwick → Boswijck (heavy woods)
• Flatbush → Vlacke Bos (flat woodland)
• Flatlands → Vlacke Landen
• New Utrecht → Nieuw Utrecht (town in Netherlands)
• Gravesend → Gravesande (Lady Deborah Moody's settlement — English but Dutch chartered)
• Coney Island → Conyne Eylandt (rabbit island)

Queens

• Flushing → Vlissingen (Zeeland port city)
• Jamaica → Jameco (Lenape "beaver") — not Dutch, but Dutch-administered
• Newtown (Elmhurst) → Nieuwe Stad
• Bushwick (extends into Queens)

Staten Island

• Staten Island → Staaten Eylandt (States General's island)
• Richmond → English rename (Duke of Richmond); Dutch: Staaten Eylandt

The Bronx

• Bronx → Jonas Bronck (Swedish, but in Dutch service) — Broncks Land
• Yonkers → Jonkheer (young nobleman) — Adriaen van der Donck

Lost Dutch Names

• Noort Rivier → Hudson River
• Zuyd Rivier → Delaware River
• Versche Rivier → Connecticut River
• Hellegat → Hell Gate (East River)
• Kolchak Hoek → Sandy Hook

Living Legacy

• Street grid: Straat → Street (Stone St, Bridge St, Whitehall St)
• Waterways: Kill (creek) — Arthur Kill, Kill Van Kull, Fresh Kills
• Surnames: Van Wyck, Van Cortlandt, Van Buren, Roosevelt (Van Rosenvelt), Vanderbilt (Van Der Bilt)
• NYC flag: Orange-white-blue (Prince of Orange) — Dutch tricolor

New Amsterdam lasted 40 years; its toponymic DNA persists in the world's most linguistically diverse city.