$WHUF is short for Whuffie, and the name is a deliberate homage.
The reference
Whuffie is the reputation-based currency in Cory Doctorow's 2003 science fiction novel "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." In the book, scarcity is gone and money with it. What people earn instead is Whuffie: a constantly updated, universally visible measure of the respect others have for you. Do things people value and your Whuffie rises. Behave badly and it drains away. Your standing in the world, from what you can access to how seriously people take you, follows from it.
The book turned "Whuffie" into shorthand for reputation capital long before onchain reputation existed. When people imagined what a real reputation economy might look like, this was the word they reached for.
Why it fits
Ethos is an attempt to build the real thing: a legible, portable, verifiable measure of trust, backed by a working protocol instead of fiction. Vouches, reviews, attestations, and slashing events feed a credibility score anyone can check before interacting with a counterparty. Naming the token after the most famous fictional reputation currency felt right.
One important difference: in the novel, Whuffie is free to give, which means it can be farmed with popularity. Ethos vouching costs something. Staking $WHUF on another person puts real value at risk, and vouching for the wrong person means losing it. Skin in the game is what makes the signal honest, and it's the part the fiction left out.
The practical bits
The token trades under the ticker $WHUF. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cory Doctorow or the book's publisher; the name is a tribute to an idea that shaped how a generation thought about reputation.