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It's also the name of a hilariously bad courier in the UK - so bad in fact that most people call it Herpes instead.

It’s also the name of a bureaucrat on a certain tv show.

curiously, nobody mentions the clothing designer :)

thought it was a handbag designer.

I think it's more a case of the same inspiration (Hermes, the Greek messenger of the gods) than irony.

also the god of thievery and tricksters.

My thoughts exactly. (I immediately remembered the old-time JMS UI. I think it was on SourceForge.)