As already verified, the spelling in your subject line is, indeed, correct.

I am not going to re-research this right now, but I'm quite sure I have read that the Lake was named for a French nobleman named Pontchartrain (probably "Duke of..." or "Compte du..."), and not derived from "Chartrain" by adding the word "pont" (bridge) to the front end. I wouldn't be surprised if the honoree never set foot in the New World; quite a few place names around here honor Frenchmen who may have invested in the colony but who never showed up in person.

Of course, I could be wrong. I'm intrigued by Amos' assertion that Milneburg used to be named "Chartrain," but I'm a little reluctant to believe it, if only because I've never heard such a thing before. I live about a mile and a half from the stretch of lakefront formerly called Milneburg (now well within the city limits of New Orleans) and have long been a student of local history and geography, so I *think* I know better...

Milneburg, located at the lake end of Elysian Fields Avenue, was a popular beach/resort in the late 1800's around the time that jazz began to emerge, so it was the site of plenty of good jobs for musicians. There was a railroad straight from "town," i.e, from the riverfront just outside the French Quarter, to the Milneburg lakefront. The train was known as the "Smoky Mary." One of the oldest tunes in the traditional jazz repertoire, "Milneburg Joys," is of course named after this venue. (Many oldtimers pronounce it "millen-berg" in the song title, although the street and the orphan home named "Milne" are both always pronounced "mill-ney.")

Until about 15-20 years ago, the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park occupied the lakefront at the end of Elysian Fields, so the old Milneburg area had a long tradition as a place for entertainment, etc. The site is now occupied by a "science and technology center" designed to attract and house high-tech businesses under the sponsorship of the adjacent University of New Orleans.