Editing Newport News, Virginia (section)

==Etymology==
The original area near the mouth of the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]] was first referred to as ''Newportes Newes'' as early as 1621.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newport-news.org/media-center/newport-news-in-detail/newport-news-trivia-and-fun-facts.html |title=Newport News Trivia and Fun Facts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080429194002/http://www.newport-news.org/media-center/newport-news-in-detail/newport-news-trivia-and-fun-facts.html |archive-date=April 29, 2008 |work=newport-news.org |access-date=June 21, 2009}}</ref>

The source of the name ''Newport News'' is not known with certainty, though it is the oldest English city name in the Americas.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIXfJTdel0oC&q=%22newport+news%22|year=2010|title=Images of America: Downtown Newport News|first=William A.|last=Fox|access-date=November 3, 2018|location=Charleston, South Carolina|isbn=978-0-7385-8581-9|quote=Newport News is the oldest English place name of any city in the New World.|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|via=Google Books|page=7}}</ref> Several versions are recorded, and it is the subject of popular speculation locally. Probably the best-known explanation holds that when an early group of [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] colonists left to return to England after the [[Starving Time (Jamestown)|Starving Time]] during the winter of 1609–1610 aboard a ship of [[Christopher Newport|Captain Christopher Newport]], they encountered another fleet of supply ships under the new Governor [[Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr]], in the James River off [[Mulberry Island]] with reinforcements of men and supplies. The new governor ordered them to turn around and return to Jamestown. Under this theory, the community was named for Newport's "good news". Another possibility is that the community may have derived its name from an old English word "news" meaning "new town". At least one source claims that the "New" arose from the original settlement's being rebuilt after a fire.<ref name="mariner_name">[http://www.mariner.org/library/research/flotsam.php#hp1 "Why Does Newport News Have Such an Odd Name?"], The Mariner's Museum website; accessed April 3, 2008.</ref>

Another source gave the original name as ''New Port Newce'', named for a person with the name Newce and the town's place as a new seaport. The namesake, Sir William Newce, was an English soldier and originally settled in Ireland. There he had established [[Newcestown]] near [[Bandon, County Cork]]. He sailed to Virginia with Sir [[Francis Wyatt]] in October 1621 and was granted {{convert|2500|acre|ha|0}} of land. He died two days later. His brother, Capt. Thomas Newce, was given "600 acres at [[Kecoughtan, Virginia|Kequatan]], now called [[Elizabeth City (Virginia Company)|Elizabeth Cittie]]." A partner [[Daniel Gookin]] completed founding the settlement.<ref>[http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/va/newportnews/history/misc0000.txt "History of Newport News"], ''William & Mary Quarterly'', 1901, scanned on Rootsweb.com; accessed April 3, 2008.</ref>

In his 1897 two-volume work ''Old Virginia and her Neighbors,'' American historian [[John Fiske (philosopher)|John Fiske]] writes:<blockquote>... several old maps where the name is given as Newport Ness, being the mariner's way of saying Newport Point.<ref name="Fiske">Fiske ''Old Virginia and Her Neighbors'' – footnote (page 92)</ref></blockquote> The fact that the name formerly appeared as "Newport's News" is verified by numerous early documents and maps, and by local tradition. The change to Newport News came about through usage; by 1851 the Post Office Department sanctioned "New Port News" (written as three words) as the name of the first post office. In 1866 it approved the name as "Newport News", the current form.<ref name="mariner_name"/>