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So... I see a stupid and inappropriate virus names trending on twitter, so I guess it is time for a little story about virus naming 
Thread
#Hantavirus
Thread#Hantavirus
In 1993, a highly fatal disease (50% CFR) strike the Four Corners area. At least 13 people died in the first wave. The virus responsible was isolated in deer mice from the appropriately named Canyon del Muerte, in the Navajo Reservation https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/21/us/virus-that-caused-deaths-among-navajos-is-isolated.html
The virus belonging to the Hantavirus family, was it therefore suggested that the new virus will be named Muerto Canyon Hantavirus. As you can imagine, Navajos did not support it and recommended a different name. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-24-mn-49752-story.html
In the mean time, unscientific derogatory names linking the virus to Native Americans started to circulate. The virus was then named Four Corners Virus. Residents in UT, CO, AZ, and NM protested. So the virus was named Sin nombre Hantavirus. You can't make that up.
Later, it was recommended that viruses would not be named anymore according to the place of discovery, although there are some recent counter-example such as the Mojiang Virus, or the Cristoli Virus https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/6/19-1431_article
It can be very difficult to name a virus.
Using geographical location can be misleading, as many virus are not geographically restricted. For example, the latest case of of Sin nombre Hantavirus was in Canada https://twitter.com/102_virus/status/1273411726872961026
Using geographical location can be misleading, as many virus are not geographically restricted. For example, the latest case of of Sin nombre Hantavirus was in Canada https://twitter.com/102_virus/status/1273411726872961026
Using the specie of isolation can also be problematic for zoonotic virus or with zoonotic potential. Associating a virus to a host specie is also not recommended especially when the specie is already threatened and need protection. https://twitter.com/102_virus/status/1263552745052663809
Using morphological specificity can be good (Arenaviridae, Coronaviridae), but is limited to virus family name and won't work for sub taxa.
That is why there are peoples actually working on naming new viruses, and why it took some time to get a name for SARS-CoV-2 (notice the name focuses on the main clinical presentation in humans and follow previous naming standard 
). HIV, HTLV are other examples of good names.
). HIV, HTLV are other examples of good names.
But using a virus name to discriminate against a population, to "harm" a country, to deflect blame, for political gain, or just to make joke is never ok. Especially when the virus kills hundreds of thousands (aren't joke supposed to be fun, by definition?).
