Names of New York

February 1, 2021
The co-editor of Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas returns to the city to document the places that serve as "generators of tales." The map of New York City is both historical palimpsest and a fascinating index of events, actors, and peoples in contact and motion. As Jelly-Schapiro writes, having noted the time and thought people put into giving names to their children, "if names matter so much when attached to people, they matter even more when attached to places, as labels that last longer, in our minds and on our maps, than any single human life." Mulberry Street is an example: It suggests the fact of a tree, but underneath it lies a story of a Five Corners gangster who supposedly uprooted the tree and beat up his gangbanger foes with it. Jelly-Schapiro takes a leisurely spin through the five boroughs, stopping to notice an Indian name buried in often mangled form--Rockaway, say, which comes from the Munsee Indian word leekuwahkuy, "sandy place," which of course is just what Rockaway is--or remark on the curious alphabet and number soup of Forest Hills, where, he adds, you can get some wonderful Chinese food. The history of place names is bound up in ethnicities, and the author doesn't stint: There are plenty of Native American names, of course (as he wryly observes, "What's more American than naming stuff for people you've killed?"), Dutch names from the pre-British era, and names marking moments of social injustice--e.g., a block in the Bronx named for the ill-fated Malian immigrant Amadou Diallo--and popular culture, such as Corona's Run-DMC JMJ Way and Staten Island's Wu-Tang District. It all adds up to an entertaining education in the ways of a city that never stops transforming, meaning new names in the future. Toponym aficionados and New York history buffs alike will revel in Jelly-Schapiro's explorations.

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Starred review from March 1, 2021

In this latest work, writer Jelly-Schapiro (Island People) brings awareness and keen insight to how places in New York City were originally named, with occasional discussion of areas outside the city. He begins with landmark and street names derived from Lenape words. Along the way, he also offers an accessible overview of Local Law 28, which, among other mandates, allows for "co-naming" streets and corners without having to change official maps. The author brings both impressive detail and rich history to his exploration of a variety of naming conventions, such as those taken from the landscape or terrain, names referencing the role of the street or the vocations of its inhabitants, streets commemorating historical events, and more. A lot of ground is covered but it never feels like something is missing from this wide-ranging work. The narrative also addresses historical figures (such as George Washington) who spent time in New York, and their namesake landmarks (e.g., the George Washington Bridge). VERDICT While toponymy, or the study of place-names, may appear to be an overwhelming topic, Jelly-Schapiro's writing is informative, accessible, and entertaining. He is engaging throughout, and will leave readers thinking twice about the place-names they encounter on a daily basis.--Rebecca Kluberdanz, Central New York Lib. Resources Council, Syracuse

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2021
Cultural geographer Jelly-Schapiro (Island People: The Caribbean and the World, 2016) believes that names matter. Surveying the origins of place-names in New York (both City and State), he finds a melting pot of origins that evoke the entire history of the place. His deep research reveals that no one can tell for sure the meaning of Manhattan other than that it springs from a Native American root. Some New York place-names have almost completely eclipsed their origins. The Dutch town of Breukelen now has little relationship to its namesake New World borough of Brooklyn. Other place-names spring out of pretension, as in replacing "street" with "avenue," which has now taken on utilitarian significance to distinguish north-south routes from east-west. Even today, New York is renaming streets whose present toponyms reflect historical social and political wrongs. Jelly-Schapiro's sprightly prose and ear for New Yorkers' stories shows, if nothing else, that place-names are less permanent than the ground they identify, and changing them helps forget a past or shape a future.

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