"While writing my book (Stochastic Processes, 1953) I had an argument with Feller. He asserted that everyone said "random variable" and I asserted that everyone said "chance variable." We obviously had to use the same name in our books, so we decided the issue by a stochastic procedure. That is, we tossed for it and he won."
Joe Doob, in Statistical Science 12 (1997), No. 4, page 307.
Added - thanks to Arthur Charpentier for this link..
© 2013, David E. Giles