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Let me address the question "what happens if some name it has already been used but you don't agree with the choice?", by giving a recent example from (mathematical) physics. The 2012 experiment that discovered a "Majorana fermion" in a superconductor attracted much attention because it would be a realisation of a non-Abelian anyon. The name was a red herring, because a fermion by definition has Abelian statistics.

In a discussion on Wikipedia it was argued we could keep the name, for the same reason that "We should not rename the "jellyfish" Wikipedia article into "Cnidaria" just because jellyfish are not fish." But the oxymoron of a "non-Abelian fermion" was sufficiently unpleasant that the name has been banned in favor of "Majorana zero-mode" --- less pretty, without the neat pointer to the Majorana-Fermi duo, but more accurate.

So yes, I do think it is appropriate to avoid red herrings in the nomenclature, and if they exist, to modify them, preferrably by a minor change in the name. The change in this recent example, from "fermion" to "zero-mode", was major. A minor change that I recall from longer ago is from "quantum chaos" to quantum chaology.

Let me address the question "what happens if some name it has already been used but you don't agree with the choice?", by giving a recent example from (mathematical) physics. The 2012 experiment that discovered a "Majorana fermion" in a superconductor attracted much attention because it would be a realisation of a non-Abelian anyon. The name was a red herring, because a fermion by definition has Abelian statistics.

In a discussion on Wikipedia it was argued we could keep the name, for the same reason that "We should not rename the "jellyfish" Wikipedia article into "Cnidaria" just because jellyfish are not fish." But the oxymoron of a "non-Abelian fermion" was sufficiently unpleasant that the name has been banned in favor of "Majorana zero-mode" --- less pretty, without the neat pointer to the Majorana-Fermi duo, but more accurate. Referees played a decisive role in pushing this change through, these days you just can't get a paper published on "non-Abelian fermionic statistics".

So yes, I do think it is appropriate to avoid red herrings in the nomenclature, and if they exist, to modify them, preferrably by a minor change in the name. The change in this recent example, from "fermion" to "zero-mode", was major. A minor change that I recall from longer ago is from "quantum chaos" to quantum chaology.

Let me address the question "what happens if some name it has already been used but you don't agree with the choice?", by giving a recent example from (mathematical) physics. The 2012 experiment that discovered a "Majorana fermion" in a superconductor attracted much attention because it would be a realisation of a non-Abelian anyon. The name was a red herring, because a fermion by definition has Abelian statistics.

In a discussion on Wikipedia it was argued we could keep the name, for the same reason that "We should not rename the "jellyfish" Wikipedia article into "Cnidaria" just because jellyfish are not fish." But the contradiction of a "non-Abelian fermion" was too much for the community and the name has been changed into "Majorana zero-mode" --- less pretty, without the neat pointer to the Majorana-Fermi duo, but more accurate.

So yes, I would think it is appropriate to avoid red herrings in the nomenclature, and if they exist, to modify them, preferrably by a minor change in the name. The change in this recent example, from "fermion" to "zero-mode", was major. A minor change that I recall from longer ago is from "quantum chaos" to quantum chaology.

Let me address the question "what happens if some name it has already been used but you don't agree with the choice?", by giving a recent example from (mathematical) physics. The 2012 experiment that discovered a "Majorana fermion" in a superconductor attracted much attention because it would be a realisation of a non-Abelian anyon. The name was a red herring, because a fermion by definition has Abelian statistics.

In a discussion on Wikipedia it was argued we could keep the name, for the same reason that "We should not rename the "jellyfish" Wikipedia article into "Cnidaria" just because jellyfish are not fish." But the oxymoron of a "non-Abelian fermion" was sufficiently unpleasant that the name has been banned in favor of "Majorana zero-mode" --- less pretty, without the neat pointer to the Majorana-Fermi duo, but more accurate.

So yes, I do think it is appropriate to avoid red herrings in the nomenclature, and if they exist, to modify them, preferrably by a minor change in the name. The change in this recent example, from "fermion" to "zero-mode", was major. A minor change that I recall from longer ago is from "quantum chaos" to quantum chaology.

Let me address the question "what happens if some name it has already been used but you don't agree with the choice?", by giving a recent example from (mathematical) physics. The 2012 experiment that discovered a "Majorana fermion" in a superconductor attracted much attention because it would be a realisation of a non-Abelian anyon. The name was a red herring, because a fermion by definition has Abelian statistics.

In a discussion on Wikipedia it was argued we could keep the name, for the same reason that "We should not rename the "jellyfish" Wikipedia article into "Cnidaria" just because jellyfish are not fish." But the contradiction of a "non-Abelian fermion" was too much for the community and the name has been changed into "Majorana zero-mode" --- less pretty, without the neat pointer to the Majorana-Fermi duo, but more accurate.

Let me address the question "what happens if some name it has already been used but you don't agree with the choice?", by giving a recent example from (mathematical) physics. The 2012 experiment that discovered a "Majorana fermion" in a superconductor attracted much attention because it would be a realisation of a non-Abelian anyon. The name was a red herring, because a fermion by definition has Abelian statistics.

In a discussion on Wikipedia it was argued we could keep the name, for the same reason that "We should not rename the "jellyfish" Wikipedia article into "Cnidaria" just because jellyfish are not fish." But the contradiction of a "non-Abelian fermion" was too much for the community and the name has been changed into "Majorana zero-mode" --- less pretty, without the neat pointer to the Majorana-Fermi duo, but more accurate.

So yes, I would think it is appropriate to avoid red herrings in the nomenclature, and if they exist, to modify them, preferrably by a minor change in the name. The change in this recent example, from "fermion" to "zero-mode", was major. A minor change that I recall from longer ago is from "quantum chaos" to quantum chaology.