Unlike other rivers of southern Poland (San or Nida), the Kamienna does not owe its name to the Celts.

The name is of Slavic origin (the word kamien means stone); in the past it was spelled Camoni (1379), Camyonna (1437), Camyen (1399), Kamienie (1399), and Kamienne (1393).

After flowing through Wąchock, the Kamienna leaves hilly areas, to enter a wide valley, which narrows before Starachowice.

The Kamienna valley in the sector from Soltykow to Cmielow (74 kilometers) makes a convenient transport corridor, in which a rail line from Koluszki to Ostrowiec was built in 1885.

Here, Old-Polish Industrial Region lies, there also is a blue-color tourist trail called Along Traces of Technological Monuments of the Kamienna River, which goes from Skarżysko-Kamienna to Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.

In a 1547 document, a mine in Starachowice is mentioned, which excavated iron ore. Local ironworks developed in the late 16th century, and during the reign of King John III Sobieski, a blast furnace was built in Bartow on the Kamienna.