It was Walter Shirley, a businessman with a gambler's instincts, who gave his name to this South Shore community . Known as the Acreage King of America, Shirley grossed more than $20 million over 20 years selling land on Long Island on the installment plan after World War I. A big moneymaker and spender as well, Shirley was likened to Beau Brummel.

In areas once considered the last outpost, he bought and sold small tracts of undeveloped and tax-foreclosed land on a shoestring.

In 1946, in one of his many displays of extravagant behavior, celebrating his 20th year in the acreage business, Shirley chartered two C-47s and flew a contingent of press and radio reporters 65 miles from New York to Mastic to inspect what he called America's Model Acre. To immortalize the Shirley name, he had a post office built and named after him. Those were small homes this real-estate tycoon built - bungalows for those who lived in New York or for those who decided to chance year-round living.

The furor over the name change for this community on Suffolk's south shore began with a rumor that Shirley was about to be renamed either Brookhampton or New Hampton. This raised eyebrows and hackles. The dissenters said let's rename it Floyd Harbor. The community has no harbors, but it does have the William Floyd Parkway, named after [William Floyd], one of the men who signed the Declaration Of Independence .........

There are two sides to every story, and the controversy overchanging the name of Shirley to Floyd Harbor is no exception The Chamber of Commerce supports the name change and is sending out ballots. It is also counting the ballots. Though I am a person with a lot of trust and faith in people, I question this.

Shirley does have the following bodies of water - a river, a bay, a lake, a creek, an ocean and lots of pools. But where is the harbor?

William Floyd lived in Mastic Beach, not Shirley.

If the "new people with the new money" want so much to be a part of our community and give it new life, why is there a big fence going up around their development?

Walter T. Shirley wanted to make the American dream (owning your own home) affordable. Floyd Harbor supporters want to make it impossible.

Who's going to pay to change all the signs, stationery, maps, addresses, etc. The Chamber of Commerce? Stan Prekurat - Shirley

The community of Shirley has become divided - between those for changing the name and those against changing the name.

Shirley has a population of more than 12,000, but only 3,000 names would be needed to change the community's name. That means 9,000 people would be left out. I have seen petitions in local stores asking people to support a name change. Many of those who signed these petitions do not live in Shirley. Who will be checking these petitions to make sure all the names are okay?

The directors of the Mastics-Shirley Chamber of Commerce are supposed to represent the local merchants and residents. They are not doing this. They have not held a public meeting to ask what everyone thinks.

By changing the name of this community, you are only changing the cover of the community, not its heart. You will only make the community appear better. The chamber should concentrate on improving the community from the inside, such as cleaning up our two major shopping centers and placing lights on William Floyd Parkway. If the Chamber of Commerce worked on these few items, not only would the community appear better, but it would be better. Fred Towle Jr. - Shirley

Shirley may love Floyd - but it looks as if Shirley will be left standing at the "alter." Following the flurry of activity to change the name of Shirley to Floyd Harbor - including an unofficial referendum in which voters overwhelmingly approved the switch - the proposal is languishing in a government office on the outskirts of Washington.

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, based in Reston, Va., which has the final authority on such name changes, isn't convinced the change is wanted by most residents. And the two legislative bodies that could start the ball rolling - the Suffolk County Legislature and Brookhaven Town Board - prefer to convey that impression.

"We've got petitions and letters, but we'd prefer something official from the county," said Ernie Berringer, who supervises the geographic board's four-member research staff.

But County Legis. Edward Romaine (R-Center Moriches) passed the buck to Brookhaven, pointing out that towns are local levels of government in New York. And Brookhaven already has begged off on the controversy.

UPDATE Shirley Surely Shirley As Few Harbor Doubt:
Sidney C. Schaer. Newsday. (Combined editions). Long Island, N.Y.: Jan 31, 1990.  pg. 20
Copyright Newsday Inc., 1990)

It's been nearly three years since Anthony Coraci put up his sign, "Welcome to Floyd Harbor." At the time, Coraci, a builder and real estate broker, was optimistic about changing the name of Shirley to Floyd Harbor.

Well, Coraci stills sells real estate in Shirley.

At the time, the two factions - The Committee to Rename Shirley vs. the Committee to Keep Shirley Shirley - were at each other's throats.

And plenty was happening. A nonbinding referendum was held during a snowstorm in February, 1987, and when the vote was counted, Coraci's side seemed to have won a major victory, as 1,325 residents voted to change the name of their hamlet to Floyd Harbor, while 671 residents opposed the change.

"I just had no idea it would be so difficult to get a name changed," said Coraci, who has stubbornly refused to take down his sign, while admitting yesterday that he thought any hopes for changing the name were all but dead.

At issue at the time was Shirley's image, with proponents of changing the name, hoping to present the world with a more upscale perception by honoring William Floyd, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and scraping the name Shirley, which hearkens back to Walter T. Shirley, a Suffolk real estate developer who wanted a kind of immortality that only comes when something's named after you.

So if the hamlet of Floyd Harbor is dead, how come veterinarian Barbara Etzel last month opened her new animal hospital, and called it the "Floyd Harbor Animal Hospital"?

Etzel, who lives in Port Jefferson Station, says she didn't realize that Shirley wasn't destined to become Floyd Harbor.

"People told me that the name hadn't been changed because of some kind of red tape in Washington, and anyway, there was already a Shirley Animal Hospital," she said. There is also now a Floyd Harbor Pharmacy, and even a Floyd Harbor Commons.