Origin of the name "Rijndael"? [closed]

Why is the standard for implementations of the AES algorithm called "Rijndael"?

Is it simply a name? Or has it some kind of meaning?

I tried googling this one, but without any helpful results.

Solution 1:

According to Wikipedia's entry on the Advanced Encryption Standard:

The name Rijndael (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrɛindaːl]) is a play on the names of the two inventors (Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen).

This was one google search away, and was in the last paragraph of the introduction to the article, which was the first google result when searching for Rijndael.

Solution 2:

It has its origins in Dutch. 'Rijn' is the Dutch spelling of the river Rhine. 'Dael', or in modern spelling 'Dal', means valley.