History of New York City (prehistory–1664) with the ethnic and racial balance of the community. The economic activity brought in a wide variety of ethnic groups to the fledgling city during the 17th century, including Spanish, Jews, and Africans, some of them as slaves. The Dutch origins can still be seen in many names in New York City, such as Coney Island (from "Konijnen Eiland" – Dutch for "Rabbit Island"), Bowery from "bouwerij" (modern Dutch "boerderij" = "farm"), Brooklyn (from Breukelen), Harlem from Haarlem (formalized in 1658 as "Nieuw Haarlem"), Greenwich Village (from Greenwijck, meaning "pine wood quarter"), Flushing (from Vlissingen) and Staten Island (from "Staaten
New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice) New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice) "New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice)" is a song performed and composed by singer-songwriter Gerard Kenny in 1978. The song is an ode to his hometown and state New York, New York. Kenny wrote the song about myth versus fact and explains that the city is overall a great place ("It was a really nice night for a good street fight or a robbery / But I always knew in my home town that would never happen to me"). The line "So Good They Named It