The dollar is not named for a person who invented it or even for the material it is made of. The word dollar comes from the German word Thaler, which is a short way to say Joachimsthal, the area where the Germans mined the silver to make the first dollar. The dollar has been used for money since 1519!

Long ago in Germany, important information was carved on thin pieces of wood cut from beech trees. The Old German word for beech tree was boka. Boka was first used only to describe the wood, but the word later meant any kind of writing.