masc. proper name, from Latin Flavius, a Roman gens name, related to flavus "golden-yellow, blond" (see blue (adj.1)), and probably originally meaning "yellow-haired."

U.S. state; the word is plural, originally (1614) a name for the Algonquian native people who lived around the bay, from Algonquian Massachusett "at the large hill," in reference to Great Blue Hill, southwest of Boston. Related: Massachusettensian.

a name of Devi, the Hindu mother-goddess, in her black-skinned death-aspect, 1798, from Sanskrit kali, literally "the black one," fem. of kalah "blue-black, black," a word from a Dravidian language. Also taken as the fem. of kala "time" (as destroyer).

city in England, mid-11c., Stæfford, literally "ford by a landing-place," from Old English stæð "river bank, shore" + ford (n.). County town of Staffordshire, which, as a name for a type of earthenware and porcelain made there is attested from 1765. The city was noted in medieval England as a source of blue cloth.

Greek goddess of victory (identified by the Romans with their Victoria), literally "victory, upper hand" (in battle, in contests, in court), probably connected with neikos "quarrel, strife," neikein "to quarrel with," a word of uncertain etymology and perhaps a pre-Greek word. As the name of a type of U.S. defensive surface-to-air missiles, attested from 1952. The brand of athletic shoes and apparel, based near Portland, Oregon, has been so known since 1971, named for the Greek goddess, having been founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports.