Originally Posted by Governator
Stolen from Wikipedia:
[I]The airport was originally named after daredevil aviator John Moisant, who died in an airplane crash on this land (which was devoted to farming at the time) in 1910. The abbreviation MSY was derived from Moisant Stock Yards, as the old airport kept NEW.
Thanks! I assume there were other reasons for siting the airport there, but I can imagine the thought process: "Gee, if only there'd been a runway here, maybe he wouldn't have crashed!"