A diminutive of the male given names Vance, Ivan, and Evan.
'Beautiful idea,' said Van as he helped Ada to heat the tank, fill the old battered bath and warm a couple of towels. 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor:
From Turkish Van, from Ottoman Turkish وان (Van), from Middle Armenian Վան (Van).
Meanings
A large saline tectonic lake of the Armenian Highland in eastern Turkey, famous for its Chalcalburnus tarichi (syn. Alburnus tarichi) fish and the 10th century Armenian cathedral on Akhtamar Island.
A province and metropolitan municipality in easternmost Turkey, partly surrounding the lake, with a Kurdish majority.
A city, the capital of Van Province, Turkey, on the shore of the lake.
ug ۋان كۆلى (lake) · ar وَان (city) · sh Van (lake) · ru Ван (lake) · fi Van (city) · hy Վան (lake) · de Van (lake) · tr Van (city) · sv Vansjön (lake) · ar بُحَيْرَة وَان (lake) · kmr Wan (city) · ar بُحَيْرَة أَرْجِيش (lake) · de Van (city) · tr Van Gölü (lake) · da Van (city) · fi Vanjärvi (lake) · ar بُحَيْرَة الطِرِّيخ (lake) · sh jezero Van (city) · ug ۋان (city) · hy Վան (city) · da Vansøen (lake) · xcl Վան (city) · ckb وان (city) · ru Ван (city) · la Arsene (lake) · hy Վանա լիճ (lake) · fa وان (city)