'Aquilia' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'Aquila', where 'aquila' meant 'eagle'.

'Aquilia' developed as a Roman family name (gens Aquilia) from the Latin root 'Aquila' and was later used in legal Latin to name the statute 'Lex Aquilia'; it entered English usage through classical and legal scholarship as the name of the family and the law.

Initially associated with 'eagle' via the root 'aquila' and used as a family name, over time it came to denote both the Aquilia gens and, by extension, the Roman statute (Lex Aquilia) in legal contexts.