# What math objects were named long after their discovery?

I once mentioned F024A or GP(12,5) really needed a name, and David Eppstein later came up with the perfect name for it, the Nauru graph.

When a puzzle based on 30-60-90 triangles became popular, I called the pieces polydrafters after the drafter's triangle, and the name stuck.

Heegner numbers 1, 2, 3, 7, 11, 19, 43, 67, 163 were named years after Heegner's death because his proof was weird and disregarded, but it turned out to be correct. And maybe because too many things were named after Gauss.

In 1979, Howard Garns developed the puzzle Number Place, and the term was trademarked in English countries. It became popular in Japan, where a more Japanese word was trademarked. It then became popular worldwide as Sudoku, because that was the name not trademarked. (In Japan, it's known as Number Place).

Due to $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-1})$ being Gaussian integers, $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-3})$ being Eisenstein integers and $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-7})$ being Kleinian integers, I've made an attempt at naming $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-2})$ the Hippasus integers, because Hippasus was famously killed for proving the immeasuarability of $\sqrt{2}$. Whether that naming attempt will be successful remains to be seen.

What are other cases where things got good names long after the fact?

• What do you consider "long after" (for Sudoku it looks like 20 years or so, it's not very long) ? IMHO, I don't think the naming of mathematical objects (be it in a short or in a long period of time after their discovery, be it in universal agreement, or based on nationalistic grounds...) is much more sound that the naming of avenues or big buildings in the center of New York. – Jean Marie Nov 18 '16 at 17:25