In the original 1978 Superman movie, Lois Lane names Superman after he has flown away from his interview with her using the following line of dialogue...
What a super man. Hm. 'Superman!'
2013's Man of Steel has Lois name Superman a little better. On paper, the dialogue is still pretty unsubtle and ham-handed but the line is lifted by Amy Adams' delivery. She says the line with a hesitancy and a little smile which shows that Lois knows this is kind of silly.
How about... Sup-
(At this point, she is interrupted.)
In "Superman: The Animated Series", the cartoon Lois Lane also names Superman, except in this case it is in a meeting with her editor after Superman's first public appearance.
He's strong. He flies. He the Nietzschean fantasy ideal all wrapped up in a red cape. The superman.
Delivery of the lines aside, how is it that a cartoon manages to produce a more intelligent, less forced, better written, more believable and far superior origin for Superman's name than either of two Hollywood blockbusters?
"What a super man," indeed!