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Traditionally, said to be from vas, to clothe (cognate with English wear), vasuka is someone who clothes, we get vAsuki, a divine serpent used as a rope for churning the oceans to separate out ambrosia. Of course, vas has many other meanings (including bright/shining cognate with latin vēr, from which related words meaning "good" are derived; and to stay , cognate with English was), so there can be other meanings as well. In an case he and sheSa and takSaka are the most commonly mentioned serpent kings. (vAsuki's sister manasA is more commonly worshipped for protection against snakes.) vAsuki is also carried around by shiva, one of the Hindu trinity, so there are names like vAsukinAtha (lord of vAsuki) than means shiva. In East Indian pronunciation, this name is Basuki, and it is sometimes written that way.

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From literary evidence, we know that it was considered a male human name by the 11th century, probably by the sixth century.