Named for a river southeast of Mount Etna, and also honoring the many towns and villages along it that contain the name: Acicastello, Acitrezza, Acireale, Acibonaccorsi, Acicatena, Aci Sant'Antonio and Aci Santo Filippo. The modern-day river evokes the myth of Aci (or Acis), the young Sicilian shepherd who was in love with Galatea, a Nereid. The jealous cyclops Polyphemus hurled a large rock and killed Aci, whose blood was transformed into an underground river that plunged into the Ionian Sea to hug his beloved Galatea. Name proposed by the discoverer, following a suggestion by Carlo Blanco.