Etymology From Old French vespre, from Latin vesper (“evening star”). The martini name was coined by English novelist Ian Fleming in 1953 in his novel Casino Royale, where fictional secret agent James Bond concocts the recipe and names it after the character Vesper Lynd.
1
The bell that summons worshippers to vespers; the vesper-bell.
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, / It perch'd for vespers nine; Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, / Glimmered the white Moon-shine.1797–1798 (date written; revised 1817), S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In Seven Parts.”, in Sibylline Leaves: A Collection of Poems, London: Rest Fenner, […], published 1817, →OCLC, page 7:
3
A vesper martini.
‘I think it’s a fine name,’ said Bond. An idea struck him. ‘Can I borrow it?’ He explained about the special martini he had invented and his search for a name for it. ‘The Vesper,’ he said. ‘It sounds perfect and it’s very appropriate to the violet hour when my cocktail will now be drunk all over the world. Can I have it?’1953, Ian Fleming, “Pink Lights and Champagne”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 59:
Etymology From Old French vespre, from Latin vesper (“evening star”). The martini name was coined by English novelist Ian Fleming in 1953 in his novel Casino Royale, where fictional secret agent James Bond concocts the recipe and names it after the character Vesper Lynd.
On Sumter’s rampart, that sweet eve, / I heard the vesper bugle play […]1908, James Ryder Randall, “On the Rampart”, in Maryland, my Maryland, and other poems, Baltimore, Md.; New York: John Murphy Company, page 28: