I don't know about you, but I would never buy a zoa based on a name. I have to see it first, and if it doesn't deserve the fancy name, that just makes it all the more pathetic. Most of the names out there are just silliness. People want to have their name on something, which is fine; most of the time it's all in good fun. Personally I don't believe that every morph of zoa out there needs a name. Some are just plain and unremarkable and aren't worth giving a "trademark" label, but again to each their own. I think names have a use for providing lineage to a line that has been established as exceptional, and if used honestly, this can really help in locating certain morphs without a lot of confusion.
The problem arises when other people out there want to try to market other types of zoas based on the names of well-recognized morphs and give them similar or identical names when they are not the same. This confuses some people. That is why pictures are invaluable as well. I would never buy any morph without seeing a picture of it first, and I'll decide based on the picture, and we have to put aside the possibility of photo-manipulation, because there is always going to be some risk involved when not buying in person. The uninventive, recycled names given to look-alikes are the profit-driven names and these are usually easy to spot with a picture to compare. The originals are usually more deserving of the name and have more use for the name; as I said, for lineage.
But I don't know that any of this has anything to do with the OP's reason for starting this thread. No need to bring up the dead-horse argument about whether names or looks sell coral.
He seemed to be complaining that every zoa that gets showed off seems to have a long list of competing names and everyone starts arguing about which is correct. That's just the reality that occurs when you have the same zoa being imported all over the country and people don't all communicate and work in conference to choose a universal name. Each person slaps their own cute moniker on their coral and then spreads it around. No big deal. This would occur less if only the rare and exceptional morphs got names, but again, it's not really that big a deal. Happens all the time with freshwater fish too, and while it does create some confusion, it's not the end of the world and people need to relax.
As a related side note, I have seen a lot of morphs out there, not just of zoas, that have copycat, recycled names that are deserving of so much more. Sometimes the names actually suck and th coral doesn't. I really hate that there are so many different kinds of coral out there with the People Eater Moniker attached just because it has some purple and green pattern. Case in point, the PPE "Chalice". Geez, the thing is a fantastic, incredible coral, and the best that someone could come up with was recycling the PPE name? That coral deserved something more original and fitting.
