Alex, off the top of my head, it seems to me that Caspase could be named for the specific cleaving pattern at the Aspartate (Asp). Don't think I have read this anywhere though; just came to me as a possibility since you asked. The 'c' might be short for cytoplasmic or is it cysteine? You could check with the Biochem/Cell Biology folk. As regards etymology, I have always thought that whoever names enzymes, tries hard to make them memory-friendly. Etymologically, they invariably can be traced back to the specific biochemical reaction they catalyse. At least all the names that are rushing through my head seem to - phosphorylase, reductase, transferase, ligase, carboxylase...all have rather strong etymological clues don't they? Hope this helps.

did you know DNA and RNA are derived from the name Arab?)
Hi Jenet! First time I am hearing of this; always thought of it as a simple deoxyribonucleic acid. Do tell us more; am very curious.