Have you ever thought about how your town got its name?
What does Manalapan mean? Or Manasquan? Why is Ocean Township named so when it's landlocked? Why is Asbury Park named after a Methodist bishop? What town translates into somethingin Italian? Which president was Roosevelt named for?
There are 53 towns in Monmouth County and 33 in Ocean County. The story behind how they got their namesweaves into a greater narrativeabout the history of the Jersey Shore, one that goesback to before American independence, farther back tobefore the first European explorersspotted its woodedcoastline from the sea.
READ: How Ocean County towns got their names
Here'show your town got its name:
MONMOUTH COUNTY(est.1683): The county, which until 1850included almost all of present-day Ocean County, became a crown possessionafter the English seized control of the region from the Dutch in 1664. The land was titled the "Monmouth Tract" for reasons that are disputed. The simplest explanation is that the area was named after the county seatinMonmouthshire,Wales. However, competing official explanations are that the tract was named after either the Rhode Island Monmouth Society or for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and illegitimate son of King Charles II. After the death of his father, the duke attempted to leada coup d'état in 1685 against his Roman Catholic uncle, who inheritedthe throne as King James II. It didn't go well. The rebellion was crushed and the king had his nephew's head chopped off. Nevertheless, the duke became something of a martyr and the rest of Protestant England eventually rose up against James,ejecting him fromthe throne andinto exile in France.
ABERDEEN(est. 1857): Named afterAberdeen, Scotland.Two dozen Quakers and Presbyterians from Scotland settled here in the 1680s to avoid religious persecution across the pond.First called"New Aberdeen,"the town wasincorporated as Matavan Township in 1857.The spelling changed to Matawan in 1882.In 1977, local voters elected to change thename to Aberdeen to honor their town’s history and distinguish itfrom the neighboring Borough of Matawan.
ALLENHURST(est. 1897): In honor ofAbner Allen, 19th century settler,who owned a 120-acre farm on the current site of the borough.
ALLENTOWN(est. 1706): In honor of Nathan Allen, early18th century founder, whobuilt threemills alongpresent-day Main Street.
ASBURY PARK(est. 1871):In honor of Francis Asbury, an Englishman and first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in colonial America and later the United States. While Asbury had no known ties to the Jersey Shore, city founder and real estate developer James A. Bradley was a Methodist convert. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was enthusiasm among devout Methodists in America tovenerateAsbury by naming places and institutions after him.
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS(est. 1887): Named for its topography and location on theheadlands at the mouth of Sandy Hook Bay.
AVON-BY-THE-SEA(est. 1900): Named after Avon, a region and former administrative county in southwestern England.
BELMAR(est. 1885):Briefly called Ocean Beach and then Elcho during the first four years of its existence, the town fathers finally settled on Belmar in 1889. The nameis a corruption of the Italian words “bel mare,” meaning "beautiful sea."
BRADLEY BEACH(est. 1893): In honor of its founder James A. Bradley, a wealthy real estate developer, who also establishedAsbury Park.
BRIELLE(est. 1919): Named after the seaport in South Holland, Netherlands.
COLTS NECK(est. 1675): Previouslycalled Atlantic Township until1962 when voters elected to change the name to the more commonly used Colts Neck, the main village within the township. The meaningbehind Colts Neckis unknown. However, local historians have long attributedthe name to the waytheYellow andMine brooks shapetheland so it resemblesa horse'sneck.
DEAL(est. 1898): Named after the coastal town ofDeal, England.
EATONTOWN(est.1873): In honor ofThomas Eaton, a 17th century settler who built a grain mill here in 1670.
ENGLISHTOWN(est.1888): In honor of James English, an 18th centurysettler who once owned the land on which the town today stands.
FAIR HAVEN(est. 1912): Legend creditsthe origin of the name to an unidentified ship captain’s remark about the pleasantness of the town. In the 19th century, some steamboats traveling between New York andRed Bank made aportof call at the localdock.
FARMINGDALE(est. 1903):Named for its fertile soil which was the result of a4-mile triangular deposit of marl discovered here in the 1830s. Hence,the land was ideal forfarming.
FREEHOLD (est. 1869)and FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP (est. 1693): Named for theEnglish legal term thatdescribes private ownership of land that is unencumbered by mortgage or tax lien. In colonial New Jersey, only landownerswho met this requirement and had some wealth were permitted to vote. They were referred to as "freeholders." Those freeholders who served in their county legislatures were called "chosen freeholders." More than two centuries later, New Jersey is the only state in the nation that continues to use the title.
HAZLET (est. 1848): Originally called Raritan Township until voters opted tochangethe name in 1967. Hazlet is the misspelled namesake of Dr. John Hazlett, who was a much-neededphysician here in the 19th century and who owned a localestate.
HIGHLANDS (est. 1900): Like its neighbor Atlantic Highlands, itsname stems from its distinctivetopographical position upon the Navesink Highlands, which has an elevation between 200 and 400 feet above sea level over Sandy Hook Bay.
HOLMDEL (est. 1830): While the origin of the name has been disputed overthe past century, historians generally believe that Holmdel is named forthe Holmes family, who lived for generations here in the 18th and 19th centuriesand who were substantiallocal landowners. Other theories about Holmdel being the corruption of a Dutch word or term have been debunked over the years.
HOWELL (est. 1801): In honor of Richard Howell, thirdgovernor of New Jersey (1793 to 1801), who served during the future municipality's push for incorporation.
INTERLAKEN (est. 1922): One of the smallest towns in New Jersey at less than 0.4 square miles, Interlaken was a privately-ownedfarm before it became an incorporated municipality.The town adopted the name of the farm as its own, which itselfwas named after Interlaken, Switzerland. Like its European counterpart, the farm was named so because of its geography asa peninsula between two lakes.
KEANSBURG (est. 1917): In honor of U.S. Sen. John Kean, R-New Jersey(1899-1911). While serving in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1884, Keanhad successfully lobbied the U.S. Postal Service to opena post office here, inwhat at the time was asection of Middletown. This was apparently a big deal in those days. Thirty-three years later, when this community was incorporated as its own town, thisgrateful community had not forgotten. Kean had died three years earlier.
KEYPORT (est. 1870): The land on which the town stands todaywas the site of an 800-acre privately-owned plantation called Key Grove Farms, in operationfrom 1714 to about1829. In addition to harvested land crops andlumber, the plantation was also a source ofshellfish. Asthere were originally no roads connecting the plantation to other settlements, the goods produced here were shipped from its bustlingport built on the Raritan Bay— thusthe evolution of the name Keyport.
LAKE COMO (est. 1924): Originally calledSouth Belmar until 2005, when the borough was renamed forthe coastal ponditsborders with Belmar and Spring Lake, which itself is the namesake ofLake Como, Italy.
LITTLE SILVER (est. 1923): The short answer is, no oneknows.There areseveral theories:One, Little Silver was the name of a 17th century estate in Rhode Island where the settlers of this future borough grew up. Two, that it refers to the form of currency European settlers paid to its Lenni-Lenape inhabitants for the purchase of the land. Three, Little Silver refers to the metallicappearance of Little Silver Creek.Little Silver is also the name of a village in Devonshire, England.
LOCH ARBOUR (est. 1883): Named forLochaber, Scotland.
LONG BRANCH (est. 1740): Named forits location on a "long branch" of the Shrewsbury River.
MANALAPAN (est. 1848): The name isattributedto a phrase inthe language of the Lenni-Lenape people. However, little is known about the language of New Jersey's native inhabitants and no one knows what Manalapan really means.Over the years, the name has been translated into a variety of meanings, including "covered swamp (with) edible roots,""good bread"or "good land to settle."
MANASQUAN(est. 1887): Again, another Lenni-Lenape word or phrase no one has any idea what it really means. Manasquan has been translated into such meanings that include“island door” or “stream of the island of squaws.”
MARLBORO (est. 1848): Marl is an antiquated term for fine-grained sediments that were used as a soil conditioner in agriculture,which was discoveredin abundance herewhenit was heavily-mined duringthe 19th century.
MATAWAN (est. 1686): AnothermysteryLenni-Lenape word or phrase that historians have interpreted most commonly to mean,"where two rivers come together"or"ancient path," and the list goes on. Other suggestedtranslations are not even remotely similar.
MIDDLETOWN (est. 1693): At the same timethe Salem witch trials were taking place almost 300 miles away in Massachusetts,Middletown was one of three new settlementsin the so-called Monmouth Tract. The others wereShrewsbury, to the south of Middletown, and a village calledPortland Point to the north of Middletown.As rudimentary as that explanation may seem, that's the official explanation for how Middletown got its name— for being thetown in the middle.
MILLSTONE (est.1844): Named after the Millstone River which originates in the township, andwhich according to local legendwas itself named after a millstone was dropped into the river.
MONMOUTH BEACH (est. 1906): Named forMonmouth County.
NEPTUNE CITY (est.1881)and NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP (est. 1879): Named for the Roman god of the sea.
OCEAN TOWNSHIP (est. 1849): Although landlocked since Loch Arbour became its own incorporated village in 1957, there was a time when much of coastal Monmouth County waspart of Ocean Township whenit was founded167 years ago. Indeed, both Asbury Park andLong Branch were sections of Ocean Township before eventually becoming their own municipalities.
OCEANPORT (est. 1920): Named for its geography asa peninsula on the Shrewsbury River, a flow of water which eventually spills out into the ocean.
RED BANK (est. 1870): Named for the red,iron-oxide richsand found on the banks of the Navesink River.
ROOSEVELT (est. 1937):In honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945). The townwas originallya co-operative communitycreated out of a portion of Millstone Townshipby the Roosevelt administrationin the midst of the Great Depression. It was first namedJersey Homesteads after the U.S.-owned corporation that operated it. Upon Roosevelt'sdeath inoffice in 1945, the residentshere elected to change the name to honor the man whose New Deal community had sustainedthem.
RUMSON (est. 1665):Another Lenni-Lenape word or phrase that no one has any idea what it means or whether it's even Lenni-Lenape for that matter. Official records do indicate the area was called Navarumsunk by the native inhabitants and Rumson may be a corruption of that word. There are also other records that indicate the town may have beennamed after a native inhabitant namedAlumson.
SEA BRIGHT (est. 1889): The official explanation is the borough is named after Sea Bright, England. However, there is no Sea Bright, England.
SEA GIRT (est. 1917): Before it was a town, it was aprivate seasideestatebelonging to U.S. Sen. Robert F. Stockton, D-New Jersey, (1851-1853).Stocktonserved in the Navy and is most famouslyknown for capturing California for the United States duringthe Mexican-American War. Henamed his Monmouth County estate Seagirt, which means to be envelopedby the sea. Stockton purchased the land after he resigned fromthe U.S. Senate to becomepresident of the Delaware andRaritan Canal Company. Afterthe estate was purchased by developers following Stockton's death, the name Seagirt was retainedbut split into two words.
SHREWSBURY (est. 1926)and SHREWSBURY TOWNSHIP (est. 1693): Named forShrewsbury, England.
SPRING LAKE (est. 1892):Thenamesake ofthe coastalpond in the heart of the Gilded Agetown.
SPRING LAKE HEIGHTS (est. 1927): Named for neighboring Spring Lake.
UNION BEACH (est. 1925): Previously a section of Raritan Township (now Hazlet), this community was simply called Union in the mid-19th century.Later the word beach was addedby developers who had subdivided its old farmlands into a waterfront community. Union itself was a common place name in the 19th century as a symbol of patriotism duringthe Civil War and used in American railroad vernacular to refer to train stations utilizedby multiple railroad companies.
TINTON FALLS (est. 1950): Named forthe modest waterfallin this borough. Originally calledNew Shrewsburyafter breaking away from Shrewsbury Township in 1950, the townwas renamed Tinton Falls in 1975. It had been the case that threedifferentShrewsburys, in close proximity to one another in Monmouth County, was asource of significantconfusionforthe U.S. Postal Service. Tintonis acorruption of the word, "Tintern." The site once encompassed an area known as Tintern Manor owned by Col. Lewis Morris, a Continental Congress delegate from New York and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Tintern had also beenthe name of the villagein Monmouthshire, England, from where the Morris familyoriginated.
UPPER FREEHOLD (est. 1731): Formerly part of Freehold Township until 1798, "upper"was added to establish*ts own identity.
WALL TOWNSHIP (est. 1851): Named in honor ofU.S. Sen. Garret D. Wall, D-New Jersey (1835-1841), who was a Monmouth County native and War of 1812 veteran, who had died one year before the township was incorporated.
WEST LONG BRANCH (est. 1908): Named forneighboring Long Branch.
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EDITORS NOTE: Most of the sourcing here can be traced back to a Depression-era reference bookentitled "The Origin of New Jersey Place Names."In 1938, the Federal Writers' Project—a New Deal program that was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)— commissioned unemployed writers to research the meaningofjust aboutevery geographicname in the Garden State. That collection was then organized into the aforementioned publication.
In addition to that book, source material was also drawn from various municipal government and school district websites, local historical societies, research staff at the Monmouth County Library, some local history books such as "Ocean County: Four Centuries in the Making," by the late historian Pauline S. Miller," local experts such as Toms River historian J. Mark Mutter and thearchives of the Asbury Park Press.
