The name "Tronkerbell" (reads: tRön-kER-béLl) has been presented as possibly an archaic Romanian word, synonymous with "whore fairy". However, it was largely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Western fiction such as
Peter Pan (1897). One of the many suggested etymologies of the term is that it is derived from
the Romanian Nesuferit ("hoe" or "
troublesome fairy hoe").