The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

endian

    Suffix used in the terms big-endian and
   little-endian that describe the ordering of bytes in a
   multi-byte number.

   The term comes from Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" via the
   famous paper "On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace" by Danny
   Cohen, USC/ISI IEN 137, 1980-04-01.

   The Lilliputians, being very small, had correspondingly small
   political problems.  The Big-Endian and Little-Endian parties
   debated over whether soft-boiled eggs should be opened at the
   big end or the little end.

   See also middle-endian, holy wars, NUXI problem, swab.

   (2007-08-14)