A lot of words changed their meaning in time, or have problematic etymology. For example, 'slave' comes from Slav (which comes from 'słowo' a Slavic word for...

A lot of words changed their meaning in time, or have problematic etymology. For example, 'slave' comes from Slav (which comes from 'słowo' a Slavic word for... 'word'). Yet, we know the difference. In Polish: the word 'kobieta' (woman) comes from 'kobyła' ('mare') and until the 19th century was derogatory (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kobieta. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kobieta.). Conversely, the word 'dziwka' (whore) comes from 'dziewka' (an archaic variant of the maid). Moreover, in many cases, etymology is less known. How should we decide which name to 'rectify'? ... For names based on scientist surnames, it is tricker. If we give a prize "in honor of X" is controversial if X held view that now we consider abhorrent. (Side note: virtually all people who died more than 100 years ago had such views, to various extent.)