Meaning: Its source is Venetia, a Latin name meaning "Home people."

Narrative: The name of the northern Italian city, famed for its canals, was derived from that of its first inhabitants. The Venetia gathered there to escape the barbarian invasions that plagued the Italian peninsula after the fall of Rome.

By 700 A.D. the first doge, or chief magistrate, was presiding over Venice's government. So began the commercial and political rise of the Venetian Republic, a powerful city-state that lasted well into the 16th century.

This name's Indo-European root probably was also ancestor to the name of the Roman goddess of love, Venus.