Alderney late 300s, at above the island's only natural harbour. The etymology of the island's name is obscure. It is known in Latin as "Riduna" but as with the names of all the Channel Islands in the Roman period there is a degree of confusion. "Riduna" may be the original name of Tatihou, while Alderney is conjectured to be identified with "Sarnia". "Alderney"/"Aurigny" is variously supposed to be a Germanic or Celtic name. It may be a corruption of "Adreni" or "Alrene", which is probably derived from an Old Norse word meaning "island near the coast". Alternatively it may derive from
Aurigny July 1971; the airline remained the world’s largest operator of the type until its retirement. Use of this larger aircraft enabled the route structure to be developed to include the south coast of England and northern France. In 1977, Aurigny was the first airline in the world to ban smoking on all services. In 1993, Aurigny won a contract to carry mail between the Channel Islands and the UK and in 1999 it began daily services between Guernsey–London Stansted Airport and Amsterdam Airport operated by Saab 340 aircraft. The latter route was later dropped due to poor demand, but marked