Definitely. Either the names of the people who discovered them, or as a tribute to others. For example Diffenbachia (that's the only one I have in mind). Linné (Carl Linnaeus) actually named some plants after other taxonomists names.

Noemie, thanks for the contribution. But the answer appears to me to be based on Scientific/ formalized techniques of plant nomenclature rather than the traditional (e.g African) approach to the practice which I had in mind. As a hint, one may wish to examine the beliefs (about human names) and purpose (of human names ) in a specific local (traditional) setting, and see how these have impacted on the practice of plant naming. Contributions from diverse local settings (languages, cultures and traditions) are weicome.

Binomial nomenclature tells in short the person who first reported the plant in a scientifically approved manner. eg. Piper nigrum Lin. (Lin stands for Linnaeus who scientifically described the plant ) But folk taxonomy the naming is based mostly on use,ares etc

Yes, there is some relations. For example, many first name, both in girls and boys, are also plant names, or many folk names of plants come from local toponyms, the same as for many family names in lots of countries. Moreover, in small towns, especially in the past, people were often appointed with nicknames that somehow remind plant common names.

Many thanks Cristina,

There are some examples I have compiled for the "Yoruba " speaking people of Nigeria and I am working towards adding some others from certain other Nigerian language groups. It could be interesting to do a "robust" write up on this aspect of plant taxonomy i.e with annotated examples from different locations on earth. In case you are (or any other person is) interested in this project, I could be reached via [email protected]

Yes I think there is a relationship between traditional plant names and human. People can give a traditional name to the plant according to its characters, its economic importance for them.

If you consider the surname as 'Genus' and the individual's name as 'species', then it is an 'yes'.

I don't know off hand of literature addressing this directly, despite knowing that many people name plant's after people, and many human names have botanical roots (e.g. in English so many female names that are flowers/herbs [Rose, Heather], and vise-versa [Rosemary], but few male ones, so there is some cultural gender thing going on there). A good, classic paper with general "fodder" on this topic is Rosaldo's Metaphors in Folk Classification, attached.