It's one of the most famous city names on Earth. Recognizable in every language. Synonymous with ambition, skyscrapers, and yellow taxis.
But it almost wasn't.
For one brief, bizarre year in the 17th century, the greatest city in America was called something else entirely:
New Orange.
The Dutch Strike Back
Let's rewind to 1673.
New York - then called New Amsterdam - had been under English control since 1664, when they seized it from the Dutch in a bloodless takeover. They renamed it New York, after the Duke of York.
But the Dutch weren't done.
In August 1673, a Dutch fleet recaptured the city during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. They sailed into the harbor, forced the English to surrender, and raised their flag over the colony once more.
Now came the question: what to call it?
They couldn't go back to New Amsterdam - that was the old name, the pre-English name. This was a new Dutch conquest. It needed a new Dutch name.
So they named it after their leader: Stadtholder William III of Orange.
Welcome to New Orange.
The Year of the Orange
For about 12 months, the city at the mouth of the Hudson River was officially New Orange.
Streets that had been renamed by the English got new Dutch names again. The fort became Fort Willem Hendrick. The colony was reorganized under Dutch rule.
Imagine living there in 1673. You're a settler, just getting used to calling your home New York. Suddenly the flags change, the officials change, and you're supposed to call it New Orange.
It never really caught on.
The English Return
The orange era was short-lived.
In 1674, the Treaty of Westminster ended the war. The Dutch agreed to return New Orange to the English in exchange for... wait for it...
Suriname.
That's right. The Dutch gave up the city that would become the greatest metropolis in the world in exchange for a small colony on the northeast coast of South America. (Which they kept until 1975, by the way.)
The English immediately renamed it New York again, and this time it stuck.
The orange withered on the vine.
What If?
Here's the fun part: imagine if things had gone differently.
If the Dutch had kept New Orange, or if the English had accepted the name, we might today be talking about:
The Orange Stock Exchange
Orange Fashion Week
The Orange Yankees
I ❤️ Orange
It doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?
The Echo That Remains
The name "New Orange" vanished from maps, but echoes remain.
The flag of New York City still features orange - a nod to its Dutch origins.
The city seal includes beavers, flour barrels, and windmills - all reminders of the Dutch legacy.
And every time you see a New York license plate, you're looking at colors chosen partly because of that history.
Orange didn't become the name. But it never quite disappeared.
The Next Time You Visit
The next time you walk through Manhattan, look down at a manhole cover. Look up at a building's facade. Look at the flag flying over City Hall.
Somewhere in the details, you might find a hint of orange.
A ghost of the year when the Big Apple was almost the Big Citrus.