Its name comes from 'suki' which means enjoying furyu (elegant aestheticism), such as waka (31 syllable Japanese poem), tea ceremony, and Japanese flower arrangement (refer to sukimono), and 'sukiya' means 'a house built as you like,' or a teahouse.
語源の「数寄」（数奇）とは和歌や茶の湯、生け花など風流を好むことであり（数寄者参照）、「数寄屋」は「好みに任せて作った家」といった意味で茶室を意味する。