Where did the popular brunch dish “Eggs Benedict” get its name?

The earliest record traces back to the popular Delmonico’s Restaurant in Lower Manhattan. It’s said that chef Charles Ranhofer came up with the combination in the 1860s when Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, one of his regular diners, grew tired of the menu and wanted something new. His recipe, which he dubbed Eggs a la Benedict, was published in his cookbook in 1894.

Another legend attributes the creation to a man named Lemuel Benedict in 1894. After a night of drinking, Benedict wandered into the Waldorf Hotel, also in Manhattan. There he ordered a few components of this dish (though he ordered bacon instead of Canadian bacon and toast rather than an English muffin). Seeing this order come through, the maître d’, Oscar Tschirsky, recognized how tasty it could be. Tschirsky put the dish on the menu, though this time adding the signature Canadian bacon and English muffin.

A later claim to the creation of eggs Benedict was circuitously made by Edward P. Montgomery on behalf of Commodore E. C. Benedict. In 1967 Montgomery wrote a letter to then "The New York Times" food columnist Craig Claiborne which included a recipe he said he had received through his uncle, a friend of the commodore. Commodore Benedict's recipe—by way of Montgomery—varies greatly from Ranhofer's version, particularly in the hollandaise sauce preparation—calling for the addition of a "hot, hard-cooked egg and ham mixture".