The village's name is traditionally explained as the Moravians — a garrison of soldiers from Moravia posted on this side of the Váh in the ninth century, when the Nitra and Moravian principalities were joined into Great Moravia. That is a tradition, not a proven fact, and it should be read as one. What is proven stands about three kilometres north, at Kostolec above Ducové — a village that belonged to Moravany from 1976 to 1992: there archaeologists excavated a Great Moravian magnate's fortified court with the foundations of a ninth-century rotunda, one of the best-known sites of its kind in the country. Whoever held that court held the crossing, and Moravany lay inside his reach.Názov obce sa tradične vysvetľuje ako Moravania — posádka vojakov z Moravy, ktorú sem umiestnili v 9. storočí, keď sa nitrianske a moravské kniežatstvo spojili do Veľkej Moravy. Je to tradícia, nie dokázaný fakt, a tak k nej treba pristupovať. Dokázané stojí asi tri kilometre na sever, na Kostolci nad Ducovým — obcou, ktorá k Moravanom patrila v rokoch 1976 až 1992: archeológovia tam odkryli veľkomoravský veľmožský dvorec so základmi rotundy z 9. storočia, jednu z najznámejších lokalít svojho druhu na Slovensku. Kto držal tento dvorec, držal brod — a Moravany ležali v jeho dosahu.
