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Native American Names (Connecticut and New York)

Its amazing when you dig around and find just how many American place names have been derived from Native Americans. Below are just a select few., see the link at the bottom to see a lot more.

Connecticut

  • Cos Cob derives its name from the Mohegan "cassacubque" - meaning "high rocks"
  • Housatonic River - from the Mohican phrase "usi-a-di-en-uk", translated as "beyond the mountain place"
  • Nepaug Reservoir: (Wangunk) "fresh pond"
  • Niantic River and Niantic village – For the Niantic tribe, called the Nehântick or Nehantucket in their own language
    Quinnipiac River – From an Algonquian phrase for "long water land".

New York

Adirondacks
The word Adirondack is thought to come from the Mohawk word 'ha-de-ron-dah' meaning 'eaters of trees.' The earliest written use of the name, spelled Rontaks, was in 1729 by the French missionary Joseph-François Lafitau. He explained that the word was used by the Iroquoians as a derogatory term for groups of Algonquians who did not practice agriculture and therefore sometimes had to eat tree bark to survive harsh winters.

Canandaigua
The name Canandaigua is derived from the Seneca name of its historic village here, spelled variously Kanandarque, Ganandogan, Ga-nun-da-gwa, or Konondaigua, which was established long before any European Americans came to the area. In a modern transcription, the historic village is rendered as tganǫdæ:gwęh, which means "the chosen spot", or "at the chosen town".

Copake
Copake, a town in Columbia County, New York, derives its name from a lake, which was known to the natives as Cook-pake, or Ack-kook-peek, meaning "Snake Pond".

Coxsackie
Coxsackie , a village in Greene County, New York, derives its name from the native word mak-kachs-hack-ing. It is generally translated as "Hoot-owl place" or "place of many owls".

Poughkeepsie
The name Poughkeepsie is derived from a word in the Wappinger language, roughly U-puku-ipi-sing, meaning 'the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place', referring to a spring or stream feeding into the Hudson River south of the downtown area.

Sacandaga
The Sacandaga River's name comes from the Native American Sa-chen-da'-ga, meaning "overflowed lands".

Ticonderoga
Ticonderoga derives its name from the Mohawk tekontaró:ken, meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways."

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