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I've just been browsing through the patents on Chess variants and have
learned some curious things.

There is a game called America's Chess, and the new piece in this game is
called a Pope. With a name like America's Chess, I might expect a new
piece with a name like Eagle, Minuteman, or President, but I would never
expect Pope.

In 1977, Michael J. Corinthios of Montreal patented a game called
Grandchess. That's 8 years before Christiaan Freeling invented his game.
This game is listed in Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, but
the GRANDCHESS entry just refers you to the MINISTERS entry. Grandchess is
the only name I found in the patent. He uses the same name in a second
1988 patent.