The name "quark" was coined by the physicist Murray Gell-Mann, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1969 for his work on the theory of elementary particles and their interactions. Gell-Mann borrowed the term from James Joyce's novel "Finnegans Wake," in which the word "quark" is used in a nonscientific context.
In the novel, "Three quarks for Muster Mark!" is a phrase repeated several times. Gell-Mann found the word appealing and decided to adopt it as the name for the hypothetical fundamental particles he was proposing. He thought it had a whimsical quality that suited the elusive and mysterious nature of the particles he was studying.
When Gell-Mann introduced the concept of quarks in 1964, he initially considered naming them "aces." However, upon discovering Joyce's use of "quark" and its unique sound, he decided it was a more fitting choice. Gell-Mann's proposal of quarks as building blocks of hadrons, such as protons and neutrons, played a significant role in the development of the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which describes the strong nuclear force that binds quarks together.