When is it ok to rename a variety?

[fortyonenorth]

This question is inspired by a post in Kath's SASE thread. Here it is:

Is it ever ok to rename a variety?

For example, if I received seeds of Super Italian Piza or Fred's Wild Dworf, I would probably record them for my records as Super Italian Pizza and Fred's Wild Dwarf - and further disseminate them as such. However, as is the case with Vjerino Paradajiz Sjeme, if I received something that was foreign to me (and misspelled), I wouldn't know enough to make the change. I'm not suggesting the Vera's should be changed at this point - as you pointed out, Carolyn - too much time has passed and it's been widely distributed with the current spelling. I've seen numerable listings at Tania's site (mostly for Eastern European varieties) where she has noted discrepancies in the spellings and, hence, in the translated names.

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Iva, I faithfully copied down the name that Leslie used that she said her Mother-in-law in Bosnia used and she spelled it Paradajiz so if Leslie made a mistake there's nothing I can do about it now since I got those seeds from her many years ago and the name as she spelled it is out there both as she named it and typed it at the site where I was at the time as well as when I first listed it in the SSE Yearbook using her spelling of it.

And yes, her name is Vera. Leslie's husband was from Bosnia but I doubt that Leslie herself knew the Bosnian language.

But I do thank you for the correction.