Person
New York
New York (NY)est. 1624pop. 8,258,035/noo YORK/
The meaning
“The Duke of York's new holding”
How it got the name
The Dutch founded New Amsterdam on Manhattan in 1624. When an English fleet took the colony without a fight in 1664, it was handed to Charles II's brother James, Duke of York and Albany, and promptly renamed in his honor. York itself is an English city whose name grinds down from Latin Eboracum through Old English Eoforwic ('boar settlement') and Old Norse Jorvik.
Former names
- New Amsterdam
- New Orange (brief Dutch recapture, 1673)
- New York