“Every time you say a Long Island town name, you’re speaking the island’s first language.”

Have you ever looked at a Long Island road sign and wondered what that town name actually means?
From Massapequa to Montauk, these names aren’t random — they’re Algonquian, the first language of this land. Every name carries a meaning, a story, and a memory of the people who lived here long before there were maps, highways, or town boards.

Across Long Island, Native words describe the island’s geography, its people, and its spirit. These names were never just labels — they were directions, descriptions, and identity.

In Western and Central Long Island, names like Massapequa, Ronkonkoma, and Hauppauge tell stories rooted in nature.

• Massapequa means “great water land.”

• Ronkonkoma translates to “boundary fishing place.”

• Hauppauge comes from a word meaning “sweet waters.”

• Nissequogue, meaning “mud country,” and Setauket, “land at the mouth of the river,” reflect the waterways that sustained local Nations for generations.

Down on the South Shore, the story continues.

• Patchogue means “where the waters meet.”

• Aquebogue means “head of the bay.”

• Mattituck translates to “great creek.”

• Peconic means “place of nut trees.”
  And Mastic, once called Manastuck, stands today as the heart of the Poospatuck Reservation, home to the Unkechaug Nation.

Out east, the language stretches all the way to the ocean.

• Shinnecock means “people of the stony shore.”

• Amagansett translates to “place of good water.”

• Sagaponack means “land of the big ground nuts.”

• Quogue means “place of shelter.”

• And Montauk, perhaps the most well-known, means “fortified place.”

These words weren’t invented for development brochures or tourism campaigns — they were given by the first people of this land, based on what they saw, felt, and lived every day. Each name described the world as it was: its rivers, its forests, its energy.

When you speak these names, you’re speaking a living language — one that still carries the voice of Paumanok, the Native name for Long Island, meaning “Land of Tribute.”
Paumanok wasn’t just a place; it was a network of trade, community, and shared respect between Nations.

Even today, that name fits. Long Island remains a place of connection — between people, cultures, and generations.

 How You Say It