Wikipedia continues to not disappoint:

The name 'hellbender' probably comes from the animal's odd look. One theory claims the hellbender was named by settlers who thought "it was a creature from hell where it's bent on returning." Another rendition says the undulating skin of a hellbender reminded observers of "horrible tortures of the infernal regions." In reality, it's a harmless aquatic salamander.

And this:

Other vernacular names include snot otter, lasagna lizard, devil dog, mud-devil, mud dog, water dog, grampus, Allegheny alligator, and leverian water newt.

Lots of fabulous nicknames there.

Snot otter is a pretty accurate name for that thing.

Snot otter? I barely know her!

Come on, don't keep us hanging! What does the little guy play...? A melody in E minor? A game of rugby??

Oh that's not even that isolated in Australia. There's a fish caught off their shores that had a whole big marketing push in the 90s and 00s to rebranded it from its common name. Slimehead. Thankfully I think they abandoned commercial marketing of it. They would have fished it out in record time. Seeing as the fish can take north of a decade to mature and reach spawning age.

Gosh, my daddy's family is from north Georgia, and he came across one of these guys as a kid. It scared the crap out of him!

I'll admit, I've always wanted to see one in the wild... maybe one day. Big lil snot otter.

I thought snot otter was what Canadians call a farmer-blow… TIL.