As you will know, whenever one of the titles in MM contains the prefix "ON", you realize you are in for a tough slog about a serious topic (see, for example, "ON Worms" and "ON Barfing.) You will also know that I have been consistently critical of the "Naming Warriors" who want to change most of the names we know, if the name belongs to someone they don't like. Bird names are now at the top of their lists.
Such simple virtue signalling is really rather complex and the good news is that those involved are likely to be engaged in this endeavour for a very long time. Unfortunately that will keep them from doing anything really important, but at least they won't be meddling with other unimportant symbolic gestures which accomplish very little and create a lot of unnecessary hostility.
There are thousands of names to be changed and the sorting out of 'bad' names is complicated. For example, what if a bad person was only bad part of the time and then turned good, or vice versa. Aung San Suu Kyi won a Nobel Prize, but now some want it revoked. She has a bug named after her (Cretopiesma suukyiae), what is one to do?
On the other hand, bugs aren't particularly flattering so perhaps it fits. The Australian Death Adder is named for the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Hawke, (Acanthophis hawkei). Is that because he was a slimy snake of a person or because he was a conservationist? (the latter.) As you will see, in the list below, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, have beetles named after them. Is that because they were bad guys or good? (surprisingly, the latter.) Could detestable critters we don't like, be given the name of people we dislike? I could go on.
Instead, I will provide a brief list compiled from very long lists of things with names. All kinds of things are named for all kinds of people. There are musicians, politicians, artists, athletes and authors and men and women who have their names on many types of organisms. The sorting out of all these names will not be easy. Here are just a few samples of people who may be good or bad, or both, for you to scrutinize.
Earl Scruggs
Acanthobunocephalus scruggsi
Catfish
Named after Earl Scruggs, a prominent American banjo player known for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, also known as "Scruggs style", which is characteristic of bluegrass music. The name of the species also makes an allusion to the common name given to aspredinid species in general (banjo catfishes), and the remarkable resemblance of the new species with this musical instrument.
[If you are wondering if any other player of blue grass music had something named after him, the answer is "YES". Doc Watson has a Beetle named after him: Anillinus docwatsoni.]
Mick Jagger (note - Canadian content)
Aegrotocatellus jaggeri
Trilobite
Aegrotocatellus is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida, which existed in what is now Nunavut, Canada. It was named by Adrain and Edgecombe in 1995, and the type species is Aegrotocatellus jaggeri, a species named after British musician Mick Jagger.
[There is also a sea snail named after him - Anomphalus jaggerius - and Keith Richards has his own trilobite as well: Perirehaedulus richardsi.]
George W. Bush
Agathidium bushi
Beetle
This beetle was named by Quentin D. Wheeler, and President Bush was pleased with the gesture, even calling Wheeler to thank him for the honor. Because of the problematic public image of Bush and his cabinet, and the fact that this is a slime-mold beetle which feeds on decaying fungi, some interpreted the naming to be intended as an insult; however, Wheeler clarified that this species, as well as A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi, were meant as homages: "We admire these leaders as fellow citizens who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to do the very difficult and unpopular work of living up to principles of freedom and democracy rather than accepting the expedient or popular". Co-author Kelly Miller said "We intended the names to be honorific... We were two conservatives in academia working together (which is not common). It was early in the Iraq war period, and we were both in favor of intervention there... And finally, we love our beetles! We wouldn't name a new species after someone we didn't like.
[ Cheney - Agathidium cheneyi. Rumsfeld - Agathidium rumsfeldi ]
John Updike
Agrilus updikei
Beetle
A species of jewel beetle that mimics flies, "named in honor of the late writer John Updike. Although Updike published sparingly on Neotropical beetles (1963), his use of metaphors, widely admired by critics, recommends this honor because, in a sense, a species which mimics another is a kind of metaphor for the mimicked species and benefits by being confused for its model by uncritical predators."
Spider
Carole King
Stonefly
Cortinarius jonimitchelliae
Dollyphyton
Fossil
Joan Didion
‘Ganaspidium didionae
Wasp
The wasp's range includes deserts of the American Southwest, setting of several of Didion's works.
I stumbled upon a source which provided all of this information and was the stimulus for this post. See if you can find it. I will say, that none of the material in the list of people was created by me and there is a source for it.
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