I have always been proud of the fact that I was born & raised in New York (although I now live in California). Thus, I was surprised to learn that New York was originally written as New-York. I found this hard to believe. So I examined my colonial notes from New York and, sure enough, every single one had New-York. Then I started wondering, was this also true for New Jersey and New Hampshire. I examined the pictures of notes issued by these colonies in Eric Newman's book, "The Early Paper Money of America," and learned that both New Jersey and New Hampshire also used hyphens. I next examined the various copper coins which are depicted in the Redbook. However, I only found one coin which used a hyphen, the 1786 NON VI VIRTUTE VICI.

I then examined some period maps and learned that the Dutch did not use a hyphen in Nieuw Nederlandt. Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to do research on New Amsterdam nor New Brunswick. However, I did learn from Newman's book that New Orleans, under Spanish rule (i.e. Nueva Orleans), did not use a hyphen.

It is fascinating what trivia one can learn from reading The E-Sylum.