As with practically all aspects of Lane's life, the subject of his name is one surrounded by much confusion—it was not until 2005 that historians discovered that they had been wrongly referring to the artist as Fitz Hugh, as opposed to his chosen Fitz Henry. The reasons behind Lane's decision to change his name, and for choosing the name he did, are still very unclear; although, one suggestion is that he did it "to differentiate himself from the well-known miniature painter Nathaniel Rodgers".