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Variations of the name Nakhchivan include Nakhichevan, Naxcivan, Naxçivan, Nachidsheuan, Nakhijevan, Nakhchawan, Nakhitchevan, Nakhjavan, and Nakhdjevan.

According to the 19th-century language scholar, Johann Heinrich Hübschmann, the name " Nakhichavan " in Armenian literally means " the place of descent ", a Biblical reference to the descent of Noah's Ark on the adjacent Mount Ararat.

Hübschmann notes, however, that it was not known by that name in antiquity.

Instead, he states the present-day name evolved to " Nakhchivan " from " Naxčavan ".

The prefix " Naxč " was a name and " avan " is Armenian for " town ".

Nakhchivan was also mentioned in Ptolemy's Geography and by other classical writers as Naxuana.

Modern historian Suren Yeremyan disputes this assertion, arguing that ancient Armenian tradition placed Nakhichevan's founding to the year 3669 BC and, in ascribing its establishment to Noah, that it took its present name after the Armenian phrase " Nakhnakan Ichevan " ( Նախնական Իջևան ), or " first landing.