Originally Posted by Meji Imaru

Your not even answering the question anymore >.< The real statement of how theyre name came to be is unknown to me. Orochimaru is the only one I can even make a guess on and it is from an old Japanese ledgend of the Kusanagi Sword (sp?) It was belived that long a ago an eight-headed/eight tailed (depending on the story teller) snake demon seiged war to many villages. A man stepped forth and prayed for an answer to this dilema of a situation, he then went into combat and by hacking through one of the eight tails/ heads, he found a sword imbeded in it. He raised the sword and with a mighty swing, vanguished the demon to hell by cutting the air into bladed sickles of pure wind. He named it the Grass-Cutter Blade (This wind technique may have also been a basis for Inuyasha's 'Wind Scar' technique now that I think of it) and became emperor by gaining the right to win the previous emperors daughters hand in marrage. The Kusanagi (also the name of the sword orochimaru is weilding in the fight with sarutobi) was then displayed for many a year. Until his great great grandson (may be older may be younger) used it to prevent his own demise in a field fire, purpousfully meant to kill him so they could steal the sword. Further down the line the swords original owners family lost power and a new man took power, with no remaining family the current power built a shrine for the sword. When war seiged the land again the emporere whom ammusingly had no sword-skill and therefore unable to envoke the swords fury, took the sword from the shrine and many other artifacts and commited hari-kari(Sp?) by taking a boat far out to the ocean and drowning himself with these posessions.

As for the summons its Rock-Paper-Scissors in Japanese. The game there is 'Toad-Snake-Slug' in which snake beats toad, toad beats slug and slug(as shown in the tsunade orochi fight thoroughly >.<) beats snake.