Rego Park, New York City

As an Australian living in New York City, I nearly fell off my chair when I learnt that there was neighbourhood here known as Rego Park.

Back home, the word registration, as in car registration, is colloquially shortened to rego, pronounced rej-o.

The neighbourhood of Rego Park, in Queens, has nothing to do with registrations.

Rather the neighbourhood was named after the Real Good Construction Company, which in 1925 began turning the area from farm land into high and low density housing.

Thanks its etymology and American pronunciation, the Rego in Rego Park is pronounced ree-go.

Header image: In Rego Park by Scott Dexler on Flickr.