Page "Babylon (village), New York" Paragraph 3

When a coherent community grew up in the area by 1803, prominent local citizens sought to adopt a new name.

An influential local lady, Mrs. Conklin, was used to living inland in what is now considered Dix Hills and was at unease with the home site that her grandchildren would be raised in.

The bible-reading Mrs. Conklin compared the new hamlet to the biblical city of Babylon and proposed that name in apparent defiance of the area's rather bawdy reputation as a stop-over place for travelers on Long Island's south shore.

Her son Nat was appalled by the use of an " unholy " name.

The family legend states she replied: " But it will be a new Babylon.

" The name stuck, despite some effort to change it.

The adjacent part of Islip town, an effective extension of Babylon, was originally considered as part of Babylon, or as East Babylon, but today is the hamlet of West Islip.