Named after Isaac Chauncey, a naval officer who commanded the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Chauncey (1772–1840) served in the Quasi-War, the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812, when he commanded the naval forces on Lake Ontario. He was the yard’s longest-serving commandant, from 1807 to 1813 and again from 1824 to 1833. According to a 2011 New York Times report, neighbours nickname the street ‘Chancy’.