Mentioned by Washington Irving

Knickerbocker's History of New York: [A group of Dutch settlers were sailing down the East River in a small boat] "While the voyagers were looking around them, on what they conceived to be a serene and sunny lake, they beheld at a distance a crew of painted savagesm busily employrd in fishing, who seemed more like this genii of this romantic region -- their slender canoe lightly balanced like a feather on the undulating surface of the bay. At sight of these, the hearts of the heroes on Comminipaw were not a little troubled. But as good fortune would have it, at the bow of the commodore's boat was stationed a very valiant man named Hendrick Kip (which, being interpreted, means chicken; a name given him on token of his courage). No sooner did he behold those varlet heathens thab he trembled with excessive valor, and, although a good half mile distant, he siezed a musquetoon that lay at hand, and turning away his head, fired it most intrepidly in the face of the blessed son. The blundering weapon recoiled and gave the valiant Kip an ignominous kick that laid him prostrate with uplifted heels in the bottom of the boat. But such was the effect of this tremendous fire that the wild men of the woods, struck with consternation, siezed hastily upon their paddles, and shot away into one of the deep inlets of the Long Island shore. This signal victory gave new spirits to the hardy voyagers, and in honor of the achievement they gave the name of the valiant Kip to the surrounding bay, and it has continued to be called "Kip's Bay" from that time to the present.