The Big Apple:

An etymological dictionary

Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.

Buda (summary)

The city of Buda (a growing suburb of Austin, the Texas state capital) has a disputed origin of its name. It had long been thought that "Buda" was a corruption of the Spanish word…

Marfa (summary)

The city of Marfa in West Texas had long thought to have been named by a railroad executive's wife after reading a Russian novel. ("Marfa" is Russian for the woman's name…