And while we're at it, another anecdote about naming the language [2]:
> Hudak and Wise were asked to write to Curry’s widow, Virginia Curry, to ask if she would mind our naming the language after her husband. Hudak later visited Mrs. Curry at her home and listened to stories about people who had stayed there (such as Church and Kleene). Mrs. Curry came to his talk (which was about Haskell, of course) at Penn State, and although she didn’t understand a word of what he was saying, she was very gracious. Her parting remark was “You know, Haskell actually never liked the name Haskell.”
It is weird that Haskell (programming language) is named after Curry's first name though. That isn't generally how you name things (other than people). About the only other thing I think of that works that way is America, named after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. "Vespuccia" would have been a more logical choice.
America was very likely not named after Amerigo Vespucci - as you stated correctly, naming something after someone's first name is unlikely. It seems very plausible that it is named after the Amerrique mountains.
I learned of Haskell (the language) and currying (the technique) before learning of Haskell Curry (the person). So whenever I see the name "Haskell Curry", it looks like a joke name at first glance. Like "wow, someone's parents were _really into_ functional programming", or maybe, he's the counterpart to Janet Javascript and Python Pete?
[1] https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/b/brooks.htm
And while we're at it, another anecdote about naming the language [2]:
> Hudak and Wise were asked to write to Curry’s widow, Virginia Curry, to ask if she would mind our naming the language after her husband. Hudak later visited Mrs. Curry at her home and listened to stories about people who had stayed there (such as Church and Kleene). Mrs. Curry came to his talk (which was about Haskell, of course) at Penn State, and although she didn’t understand a word of what he was saying, she was very gracious. Her parting remark was “You know, Haskell actually never liked the name Haskell.”
[2] https://www.dotnetrocks.com/details/310