2643: maverick Mar 13, 2022
A maverick now probably refers to someone who is unconventional and individualistic, but the more traditional definition is an unbranded calf. That said, the word is fairly new, coming from a Texan cattle rancher Samuel Maverick who was known for not branding his calves. The term was used since the mid 19th century but popularized by his grandson in the 1930's, representative Maury Maverick, who served in the US congress.
2642: The Village of Å: Places with Only One Letter Mar 12, 2022
A town in Wales changed its name to have the longest place-name in Europe , but there are many places vying for the spot as the shortest. The French township of Y, over a dozen villages across Norway and Sweden each called Å meaning 'brook', as well as Ö in Sweden meaning 'island'. There are a number of other place names or names of geographic features, especially rivers, with only one letter, each of which is a vowel, though none of these are major settlements and one does have to stretch the definition of a place name in some cases to include them. It is certainly rare.
2640: douglas Mar 10, 2022
The name Douglas is a common last name and first name, which is a typical development of many Celtic surnames. It is, somewhat surprisingly at first glance, related to 'Dublin', and probably doesn't sound very nice either given its meaning in Scots Gaelic (dubh glas) is 'black/dark stream', but this is almost certainly just a topographical description of some marshy area of Scotland.
2631: Names from (Ancient) Latin Regions Mar 1, 2022
There are lots of sources of names, whether those will be from religion, animals, plants, or just qualities. Place-names as given-names is common now with newer locations, but we have at least two names from pre-Roman Italic tribes that are names still. The feminine 'Sabine' which is very popular especially in Western Europe is the name of a tribe that lived in Latium, north west of Rome. Likewise, 'Lucas; Luke' is commonly misunderstood to come directly from the Latin word for 'light' (lux, lucas), and that is somewhat true but it comes from a word meaning "man from Lucania". That was an Oscan-Samnium tribe, though the meaning of that group's name is probably from light, as is was in the east of the peninsula, though even this is not certain and it is possible the name was for woods, rather than light at all.
2625: 'Capital' in Asian Capital Cities Feb 22, 2022
As seen in ‘Tokyo‘, mentioned yesterday, It is actually a common tradition to include the word and character for 'capital' (京) in the name of Asian capital cities. This same character is pronounced 'jing' in Chinese and is found in other places around modern China. The former capital of Japan, Kyoto (京都) has this, as does Keijō (京城) in South Korea, both meaning 'capital city' in their respective languages. In China there is Beijing (北京) or 'Northern Capital', Nanjing (南京) or 'Southern Capital', and Xijing (西京) or 'Western Capital'. There are plenty more such examples, but this is just a few.
2624: Kyoto & Tokyo Feb 21, 2022
The fact that a former capital (Kyoto) and current capital of Japan (Tokyo) are anagrams is fun, but not so surprising. The original name for Tokyo was Edo, which means 'estuary', owing to the natural geography. During the Meiji Restoration it was changed to Tokyo (東京) from 東 (east) pronounced 'to' and 京 (capital) pronounced 'kyō'. Therefore, Kyoto means the same thing, but in a different order, and the reason that the characters look different (京都) is because this is older and comes from Middle Chinese.
2613: Pagan Origins of Martin, Mark, and Mario Feb 9, 2022
There have been saints and popes named Martin, but it actually has its roots in pagan religion. The name Martinus in Roman culture was fairly popular, and derives from the Roman god of war Mars. Moreover, this is also the origin for the name Marcus, and its derivative like Mark. At the same time as the Roman Martinus, there was also Marius of the same source, which remains as it was in some cultures but also became the Spanish Mario, but not the feminine Maria which is ultimately Semitic.
2597: Denny's Jan 24, 2022
While company names don't always have any particular source in reality, the story of Denny's is more specific. This was previously "Denny's Coffee Shop", that too being a name change as a way to distinguish from "Dan's Coffee Shop" located nearby before it was an international chain. Beforehand it was "Danny's Coffee Shop" but this too wasn't original. The original name was Danny's Donuts, but founded by no one named Danny: rather a Harold Butler & Richard Jezak who just thought the name was catchy.
2592: Turkey Changes its Name | Jan 19, 2022
The nation of Turkey stated recently that they plan to officially change the name of the country to 'Turkiye' which is how it is written in Turkish, though without the umlaut for 'Türkiye'. This is not even the only country to change its official, English name in the last decade, as seen with Eswatini and Czechia, but it is certainly the biggest and most important. It may take some time to catch on, if ever, but if anything the term 'Persia' is more ingrained in the mind of an English speaker yet the efforts were successful in changing the name to 'Iran', and likewise with Siam to Thailand etc.. Many have questioned the timing as well, given the severity of the economic crisis going on there, as a way to divert media attention. Only time will tell if this will be widely used, but certainly for official purposes there will be a shift.
2589: Genes Named from Hedgehogs Jan 15, 2022
In addition to the sonic hedgehog gene, there are a number of others in the same family with other notable naming references. Before 'sonic hedgehog' was named there were the 'desert hedgehog' and 'Indian hedgehog' genes, named after real species of hedgehog. A variant form in some fish is named 'tiggywinkle hedgehog' from Beatrix Potter's character.
2565: Guinea-Bissau Dec 21, 2021
There are a number of places named for 'Guinea', a historical region of Africa. Among those, Guinea Bissau is notable because 'Bissau' is not an adjective in the same way as found with 'Equatorial Guinea'. Rather, Bissau is the capital and was named from this after formerly being 'Portuguese Guinea' because the nonspecific 'Guinea' was already taken, having itself once been 'French Guinea'.
2558: paul Dec 14, 2021
The name 'Paul' is found around the New Testament, though it is not from Greek. Indeed, the apostle who bore the name was himself born 'Saul' (שאול) but in Latin 'Paulus', literally 'small', was used to distinguish people with the same name, not so unlike 'junior'. Later, the connotations to 'small' took on the sense of 'humble'. This in turn took on religious connotations, and 'Paul' gained popularity thereafter.
2540: Reuss & Its Naming Nov 26, 2021
Although now part of Thuringia, Germany, there was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire named after Slavs until the 19th century. 'Reusse' (German 'Reuß') is sometimes translated as 'Russian' though really it means 'Ruthenian' and although the land had long been populated with a high number of Slavs, this connection was cemented with the marriage of King Daniel of Galicia into the local nobility. This region was also associated with some singular naming practices, such as the House of Reuss naming all its men 'Heinrich' and numbering each, even those not in power, Heinrich I all the way to Heinrich C (Heinrich the one hundredth) before repeating the cycle, or with another line of this house restarting the cycle at the end of the century.
2533: brian Nov 19, 2021
The name 'Brian' is of somewhat disputed origin but generally thought to come from a Celtic root 'bre' meaning 'hill'. The word took on the sense of 'nobility' or just 'exalted' from the sense of physical height. Another connection is to Celtic mythology supposedly, but the mythical figure of Brian actually had his name changed from Uar. 'Brian' started out exclusively as a title, but eventually became one of the most popular names in the anglosphere, especially in Britain and Ireland in the 20th century.
2523: Mysterious Origins of Diego Nov 9, 2021
The Spanish name Santiago is from an earlier Sant Yago, but in English this is the name of Saint James. The discrepancy in the name goes even further, since in Hebrew the name is יעקב (Yaaqov). That said, it is not certain by any means that what was once thought to be the successor to 'Yago', namely 'Diego' is in fact descended from יעקב (Yaaqov) even though this would definitely not be the most radical shift over the years. Instead, the current theory is that this is from 'Didacus', itself from the Greek Διάδοχος (Diadochos) meaning 'heir; successor', though the shift in vowels from that to 'Diego' is not explained. What is certain is that 'Díaz' and its variations are just the patronymic form of 'Diego'.
2522: mesmerism Nov 8, 2021
The word 'mesmerize' now just generally refers to something that's dazzling and captivating, but 'mesmerism' was once a description of a medical procedure and (erroneous) scientific theory. Franz Anton Mesmer believed in something called 'animal magnetism'—an invisible force with physical effects—using magnets along with psychological tricks to supposedly cure people of ailments. This did actually work, but rather than being from magnetism, it was hypnosis. The salvageable procedures influenced many fields including modern talk-therapy, but the colloquial term 'mesmerize' is named from someone who may not have really known what he was doing.
2517: mentor Nov 3, 2021
Although the word 'mentor' is from Ancient Greek, it only started to be used as a word in the 18th century. Instead, this word comes from the name of a character Μέντωρ (Mentor) in Homer's Odyssey, namely the adviser of Telemachus. That said, the root of this word is connected to the idea itself, and related to the English 'mind', Latin 'monitor', and Sanskrit मन्तृ (mantṛ). So, while it is technically from a name, the name was given presumably due to who the character was.
2507: Candace: Mistaken for a Biblical Name Oct 23, 2021
Candace is ostensibly a (New Testament) biblical name, but it was not actually a name. Referred to as a queen in the text, the word was written as Κανδάκη (Kandakē) in Greek, from Kdke in the Meroitic language of the Cushites, was a specific title for the sister of a king. This sort of terminology was commonly used around the region, especially around what is now Ethiopia, but later Greek and Roman sources misunderstood this and treated it as her personal name in Acts. This is how it came to be a name in English, despite it not technically being a biblical name, per se.
2482: Cleopatra: Not Exactly a Name Sep 28, 2021
Although the name Cleopatra is famous, most of her female relatives and ancestors were Cleopatra, her own full name being Cleopatra VII Philopator (Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ). Later she took on the title Theā́ Philopátōra (Θεᾱ́ Φιλοπάτωρα). Likewise, all her male relatives and ancestors were Ptolemy (Πτολεμαῖος) such as her brother and husband Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator. Many of them therefore had other, secondary names with Cleopatra or Ptolemy acting as family names or even titles, though for women Arsinoe (Ἀρσινόη) or Berenice (Βερενίκη) also were options.
2481: nicotine Sep 27, 2021
Tobacco is native to Central America, hence the word coming to English from Spanish, and likewise there was a Portuguese connection—albeit more convoluted—for 'nicotine'. It is named from the New Latin 'nicotiana', which is the scientific name of the plant, 'nicotiana herba', and that word comes from the name of the French ambassador to Portugal, who brought tobacco back to France in 1560: Jean Nicot. It is unclear where that name originates.