This corner of the inland sea was particularly treacherous. For this reason, some believe the name comes from Ships Hell or the Dutch Scheepshol, where 'hol' means grave. This means the Schiphol area was where ships would sink to the bottom of the lake.

The name "Schiphol" has a history dating back to the 15th century, long before the area became an aviation hub in 1916. The most widely accepted historical explanation is that it refers to a stretch of marshy, low-lying land where people gathered wood. The name combines the Gothic words Skip (meaning wood or timber) and Holl (meaning low-lying land). A popular but largely mythical folk etymology suggests the name means "Ships' Hell" (Scheepshol), referencing a treacherous corner of the former Haarlemmermeer lake where many ships supposedly sank during storms. However, historians note that the name appeared in documents as early as 1450, referring to land that was not yet a large lake. After the lake was drained in 1852, a fort named Fort Schiphol was built on the site, which later became the location for a military airfield during World War I. Today, Schiphol sits approximately 4 meters below sea level on what was once the bottom of that drained lake, making it one of the lowest-lying major airports in the world.