Online Etymology Dictionary

Vauxhall: popular pleasure garden on south bank of Thames in London, c. 1661-1859; the name is Middle English Faukeshale (late 13c.), "Hall or manor of a man called Falkes," an Old French personal name.
Vivian: masc. proper name, from Latin Vivianus (source also of French Vivien), literally "living, alive," (see vivid). But Klein says it is "prob. a misreading of the Celtic name Ninian."
Shenandoah: originally a place name in Dutchess County, N.Y., from Oneida (Iroquoian) family name Skenondoah, derived from oskenon:to "deer." Later transferred to river and valley in Virginia.
Malvinas: Argentine name for the Falkland Islands, from French Malouins, name for inhabitants of the French city of St. Malo, who attempted a colony there in 1764 under Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.
Armenian: 1590s, "a native of Armenia," from Armenia (late 14c. in English), place name traced to 521 C.E., but which is of uncertain origin. As the name of the language, by 1718; as an adjective, by 1727.
Saudi (adj.): 1933, from Sa'ud, family name of the rulers of Nejd from 18c. and of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1932. The name is from Arabic sa'd "good fortune, happiness." With common Semitic national designation suffix -i.
Sandinista (n.): member of a Nicaraguan revolutionary group, 1928, from Spanish, from name of Augusto César Sandino (1893-1934), Nicaraguan nationalist leader; the modern organization of this name was founded in 1963. Related: Sandanistas.
Cantonese (n.): 1816, from Canton, former transliteration of the name of the Chinese region now known in English as Guangzhou. The older form of the name is from the old British-run, Hong Kong-based Chinese postal system. As an adjective from 1840.
Blanche: fem. proper name, from French Blanche, from Old French blanc "white," of Germanic origin (see blank (adj.)). A fairly popular name for girls born in the U.S. from about 1880 to 1900.
Kay: fem. proper name, often a shortening of Katherine. As a given name for girls, from 1890s in the U.S.; among the top 100 names for girls born there 1936-1945.
Sandra: fem. proper name, originally short for Alexandra. Little used before c. 1920; a top-20 name for girls born in the U.S. 1938-1967.
Sumerian (adj.): 1874, from French Sumérien (1872), "pertaining to Sumer," name of a district in ancient Babylonia, once the seat of a great civilization. As the name of a language from 1887. Related: Sumeria.
Travis: masc. proper name, also a surname (late 12c.), from an Old French word meaning "to cross over," related to traverse (v.). Probably a name for a gatekeeper or the toll collector of a bridge.
hickscorner (n.): "libertine scoffer at religion and the religious," c. 1530, from the name of the character in a work of that name printed c. 1512 by Wynkyn de Worde; from Hick, the common masc. nickname, + scorner.
homonymous (adj.): 1620s, in various senses, from Latin homonymus "having the same name," from Greek homonymos "having the same name" (see homonym). Homonymy "quality of being homonymous" is from 1590s. Related: Homonymously.
Janet: fem. proper name, a diminutive of Jane with -et. In Middle English, Ionete-of-the-steues "Janet of the Stews" (see stew (n.)) was a common name for a prostitute (late 14c.).
Jehovist (n.): 1844 as the name given by scholars to the presumed author or authors of the parts of the Hexateuch in which the divine name is written Yhwh (see Jehovah) + -ist. Opposed to the Elohist. Sometimes Jahvist is used. Related: Jehovistic.
Junius: masc. proper name, from Latin Junius, name of a Roman gens. In U.S. history, the pseudonym of the author of a famous series of letters in the "Public Advertiser" from 1768-1772 critical of crown policy. Related: Junian.
Bernicia: Anglo-Saxon kingdom in northernmost England, founded by mid-6c., eventually merged into Northumbria; the name evidently is a survival of a pre-invasion Celtic name, perhaps that represented by Welsh Bryneich.
Kampuchea: name taken by Cambodia after the communist takeover in 1975, representing a local pronunciation of the name that came into English as Cambodia. Related: Kampuchean.
Kimberly: fem. proper name, apparently from the place or surname Kimberley. Not much known in U.S. before 1946; a top-10 name for girls born there 1964-1977.
Cindy: fem. proper name, often a familiar or diminutive form of Cynthia, but as a name in its own right among the top 100 for girls born in the U.S. c. 1953-1973.
Augustus: masc. proper name, from Latin augustus "venerable" (see august). The name originally was a cognomen applied to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus as emperor, with a sense something like "his majesty."
Dante: masc. proper name, most modern uses outside Italy ultimately are in reference to Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321), the great poet; the name is a shortening of Latin Durante, from durare "harden, endure" (see endure).
Ecuador: from the Spanish form of equator (which runs through it). Before 1830 the region bore the name of its chief city, Quito, which is from the name of a now-extinct native people, of unknown meaning. Related: Ecuadorian; Ecuadorean.
Mede: inhabitant of ancient Media, late 14c., from Latin Medus, from Greek Medos "Mede," from the indigenous people-name Medes, said to be from the name of their first king (Medos).
beehive (n.): early 14c., from bee + hive (n.). As the name of a hairstyle, attested from 1960 (the style itself said to be popular from 1958). As the name of a star cluster in the constellation Cancer, from 1840 (see Praesepe).
Benin: former West African kingdom, from the Bini people, whose name is perhaps related to Arabic bani "sons." Though now the people is associated with Nigeria, the name was taken 1974 by the former nation of Dahomey.
Nan: fem. proper name, usually a familiar form of Ann before the 20c. rise in popularity of Nancy. From c. 1700 as a characteristic name for a serving maid. As short for nanny, etc., from 1940.
porphyria (n.): metabolic disorder, 1923, from porphyrin (1910), the name of the type of chemical which, in imbalance, causes it, from German porphyrin, chemical name, from Greek porphyros "purple" (see purple) + -in (2). Some of the compounds are purple.
Swedish (adj.): c. 1600, from Swede + -ish. Similar formation in Dutch Zweedsch, German Schwedisch. Related: Swedishness. As a language name from c. 1600. The candy Swedish fish attested by that name by 1983.
Susan: fem. proper name, from French Susanne, from Late Latin Susanna (see Susanna). A top-10 name for girls born in the U.S. 1945-1968 (peaking at #2 from 1957-60).
Bratislava: capital of Slovakia, a Slavic settlement named for its founder or chief; the name is the same element in the first half of the German name for the city, Pressburg (9c.).
Marianne: fem. proper name, from French, a variant of Marian; sometimes Englished as Mary Anne. Name of a republican secret society formed in France in 1851, hence "personification of the French Republic."
Kidderminster: type of two-ply carpet, 1832, named for the town in England where it was manufactured. The place name is Anglo-French Chideminstre, literally "Cydder's Monastery," from an Old English personal name.
castle (v.): move in chess, recorded under this name from 1650s, from castle (n.), as an old alternative name for the rook, one of the pieces moved. Related: Castled; castling.
Rastus: also 'Rastus, masc. proper name, short for Erastus. As a stereotypical name of an American slave or derogatory for "black man," 1881, probably from use in stories of Joel Chandler Harris.
squash (n.2): 1610s, "act of squashing," from squash (v.). The racket game called by that name 1899; earlier (1886) it was the name of the soft rubber ball used in it.
Tanzania: east African nation, formed 1964 by union of Tanganyika (named for the lake, the name of which is of unknown origin) and Zanzibar. With country-name word-forming element -ia. Related: Tanzanian.
em (n.): name of the letter M, c. 1200, from Latin; the Greek name was mu. In printing, originally the square corresponding in dimensions to the capital M of that type.
Livonia: former name of the region around northern Latvia and southern Estonia, also a former Baltic province of Russia, Modern Latin, ultimately from Estonian liiv "sand." Related: Livonian (1650s). The native name in English was Livland.
Bacardi: 1921, name for a brand of West Indian rum produced by Compania Ron Bacardi, originally of Cuba.
daguerreotype (n.): 1839, from French daguerreotype, coined from name of inventor, Louis Daguerre (1789-1851) + -type (see type (n.)).
culvert (n.): 1773, origin unknown, perhaps, as Weekley suggests, the name of a long-forgotten engineer or bridge-builder.
Abel: masc. proper name, in Old Testament, second son of Adam and Eve, from Hebrew Hebhel, literally "breath," also "vanity."
crustacean (n.): 1835, from Crustacea the class name. As an adjective, 1858 (earlier was crustaceous, 1640s).
Egbert: masc. proper name, from Old English Ecg-beorht, literally "sword-bright." See edge (n.) + bright (adj.).
Eileen: fem. proper name, from Celtic (compare Irish Eibhlin) but influenced in form by Helen.
Galbraith: surname, from Old Gaelic Gall-Bhreathnach "stranger-Briton," a name given to Britons settled among Gaels. Compare Galloway.
Hades: "god of the dead in Greek mythology;" also the name of his realm, the abode of the dead spirits, 1590s, from Greek Hades, Haides, in Homer the name of the god of the underworld, son of Kronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His name is of unknown origin. Perhaps literally "the invisible" [Watkins], from privative prefix a- + idein "to see" (see vision). The name of the god was extended in later Greek writing to his kingdom, also "the grave, death." Related: Hadal (adj.), 1964; Hadean.