I saw a claim recently that the Superman villain Brainiac was named for a portmanteau of "brain" and "maniac", but that seems wrong to me.
Brainiac debuted in 1958, right around the time that computer mainframes were in the news. Several of the mainframes of that time were named with acronyms ending in -AC (ILLIAC, UNIVAC, TRANSAC, and even MANIAC), a practice that was carried over into fictional mainframes as well (EPICAC, EMSIAC, Multivac, Microvac, WESCAC).
Though I haven't been able to find exact documentation saying so, I strongly suspect Brainiac was named in that pattern rather than anything directly to do with "maniac"
EDIT: Some primary sources from the time make no mention of "brain + maniac" but apparently the original Brainiac had no computer-like association? https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-79/
#Superman #BRAINIAC #DCComics #DC