[saalweachter]

It would be interesting to know if the term was or wasn't related.

I've been around enough brainstorming sessions to see people come up with sneaky ways to name things after themselves; someone named Abbe deciding to use "aberration" to describe the particular distortion of an image because it sounds like Abbe is totally plausible.

On the other hand, if the term predated Abbe's work and the creation of the Abbe number, it's also possible Abbe decided to work on the problem -- or his mentor assigned him the topic -- because Abbe sounds like aberration.

(It doesn't mean there is a connection, I'm just saying that just because the etymology of the word is independent doesn't mean the use of the word is also.)

[eesmith]

Here's an 1825 use of "chromatic aberration" in "An elementary treatise on optics" by Henry Coddington: https://archive.org/details/elementarytreati00codd/page/94/m...

Ernst Abbe was born in 1840, says https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Abbe . There are many uses of chromatic aberration in archive.org which predate Abbe's research in optics.

The Wikipedia adds "Already a professor in Jena, he was hired by Carl Zeiss to improve the manufacturing process of optical instruments, which back then was largely based on trial and error." which seems like it had nothing to do with his surname.

[dotancohen]

I've seen clever ways of sneaking loved ones' names into projects as well. I'm a habitual offender.

You might be interested in the series of inventions that led to the modern flush toilet. There are at least two funny names in that history, which may or may not be related to colloquialisms used when discussing toilet matters.

[taneq]

Prince John: Such an unusual name, "Latrine." How did your family come by it?

Latrine: We changed it in the 9th century.

Prince John: You mean you changed it TO "Latrine"?

Latrine: Yeah. Used to be "????house."

[spockz]

FYI. This comes from Robin Hood: Men in Tights” by Mel Brooks.

[nayuki]

My favorite example is that the Poynting vector points to the direction of energy flow!