There's a race in Traveller called the Hivers, which are six-limbed starfish creatures that consider their own young vermin until they reach 1 year old, think manipulation is the greatest art there is, and see every other species in the universe as the Shinji to their Gendou Ikari - i.e. badly in need of their meddlesome guidance. All of which is awesome, but what I like most about them is the name - specifically, that it's wrong.
The Hivers are called that because, when humanity first made contact with them, they couldn't communicate and from observation assumed a hive-based social structure, with all that implies. By the time they could communicate (and be informed of their mistake), the name had already stuck, not just to the creatures but to their entire stellar empire. Thus there's a enormous chunk of space, the Hive Confederacy, named for the hives which the Hivers don't actually have.
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