Top 10 names facts

Sea route to India. Bartolomeu Dias originally named the Cape of Good Hope the "Cape of Storms" (Cabo das Tormentas). It was later renamed (by King John II of Portugal) the Cape of Good Hope because it represented the opening of a route to the east.

From the name of the Swedish Ytterby mine. Ytterby mine, located in the south-east part of the Swedish island and the town Resarö, was a rich source of many rare minerals. 4 chemical elements - yttrium, ytterbium, terbium and erbium - were named after the mine commemorating their origin.

"servant of God". Abdullah or Abdallah is built from the Arabic words Abd (servant) and Allah. Since both Torah and Christian Bible use word 'Allah' for God in their Arabic translations, the name Abdullah is also common among Jews and Christians living in the Arab countries.

Name of the land owner. In 1681, Charles II granted a land charter to William Penn to repay a debt of £16,000 owed to William's father, Admiral William Penn. This was one of the largest land grants to an individual in history. William Penn wanted to name the land Sylvania and was embarrassed at the name Pennsylvania chosen by the king.

Hussein. Barack Hussein Obama II is named after his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. Hussein is a commonly given Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or "beautiful". Hussein is also a surname of the royal family in Jordan.

There were no such people. The "ix" ending alludes to the "rix" suffix present in the names of Gaulish chieftains such as Vercingetorix or Ambiorix. However, the meaning of "rix" was "king", so no such suffix was ever present among the names of common folk.

Finland. The name "Molotov cocktail" was coined by the Finns during the Winter War. The name was an insulting reference to Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.

Not known. Modern attempts to formulate M-theory are typically based on matrix theory or the AdS/CFT correspondence. According to Witten, M should stand for “magic”, “mystery”, or “membrane” according to taste, and the true meaning of the title should be decided when a more fundamental formulation of the theory is known.

The end of the relationship. A Dear John letter is a letter written to a man by his wife or romantic partner to inform him their relationship is over because she has found another lover. While the exact origins of the phrase are unknown, it is commonly believed to have been coined by Americans during World War II. "John" was the most popular baby name for boys in America.

Italy. As is evidenced by its name, the coin was first struck in Florence. As many Florentine banks had branches across Europe, the florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions.