'Arverne' comes from the way Remington Vernam signed his cheques: R. Vernam.
The lawyer and developer Remington Vernam built a station named Arverne here in 1888, at Gaston Avenue, now Beach 67th Street. His wife named the station and the development, admiring the way he signed his cheques. Vernam had planned to call the neighbourhood Arverne-by-the-Sea; in 2010 the local community board backed that name for the station, and new signs went up in July 2011.