 The name is a derivation of a phrase from the Algonquian language spoken by the Hackensack people, a phratry of the Lenni-Lenape who lived in the northeastern New Jersey at the time of European contact in the 17th century.A possible meaning could be "rock" or "point of rocks" which would refer to the terrain and the original ravine in Bergen Hill, or lower Hudson Palisades, found there.Spellings included "Pimbrepow", "Pembrepock", "Pemmerepoch", "Pimlipo", "Pemrepau", "Pemrapaugh", "Pamrapough", "Pamrepaw" and "Pamropo".