 Anthropologist Ives Goddard suggests the Munsee language-word "wápinkw", used by the Lenape and meaning "opossum", might be related to the name Wappinger.No evidence supports the folk etymology of the name coming from a word meaning "easterner," as suggested by Edward Manning Ruttenber in 1906 and John Reed Swanton in 1952.Others suggest that Wappinger is anglicized from the Dutch word "wapendragers", meaning "weapon-bearers", alluding to the warring relationship between the Dutch and the Wappinger.