DRAKE

(male) Mainly U.S.: transferred use of the surname, which is derived in part from the Old English byname Draca ‘snake, dragon’ (which survived into the Middle Ages as a given name), and in part from Middle English drake ‘male duck’ (imported from Middle Low German) used as a nickname. Use as a given name is likely to have originated in honour of the English explorer Sir Francis Drake (?1540–96).