[…] there is nothing in the whole complicated process of name-making which calls for the admission of any other efficient force than the reasonable action, the action for a definable purpose, of the speakers of language: their purpose being […] the adaptation of their means of expression to their constantly changing needs and shifting preferences.
- Whitney (1875), a pag.144

There is first the apprehension of something as calling for expression, or for better expression, and then the reaching out after, and the obtaining in some way, the means of expression. But just this, only with the variety in the degree of consciousness involved, is the nature of the process of name-making in all its varieties.
- Whitney (1875), a pag.136-137

We have had to notice over and over again […] the readiness on the part of language-users to forget origins, to cast aside as cumbrous rubbish the etymological suggestiveness of a term, and concentrate force upon the new and more adventitious tie. This is one of the most fundamental and valuable tendencies in name-making, it constitutes an essential part of the practical availability of language.
- Whitney (1875), a pag.141