eclair (n.)
"a small, oblong pastry with sweet filling and glazed or iced," 1861, from French éclair, literally "lightning," from Old French esclair "light, daylight, flash of light," verbal noun from esclairare "to light up, illuminate, make shine" (12c.), formerly esclairer, ultimately from Latin exclarare "light up, illumine," from ex "out" (see ex-) + clarus "clear" (see clear (adj.)).
Nowadays the éclair au chocolat is the version of the dessert that is typically designated by the word eclair, but Pierre Blot's 1867 cookbook also lists coffee, tea, vanilla, flavor extract, strawberry, and currant varieties, as well as noting that any fruit jelly can be used. Modern versions are usually filled by injection, but early forms were often split and the filling spread between to make a sandwich-style cake. The earliest version of the éclair in French cookbooks (where it is attested by 1856) appears to be the coffee-flavored variety, made with choux pastry. The original shape seems to have been not oblong, but round.
The reason for the name is unclear. The common explanation that it's due to the gleam of the chocolate glaze doesn't match the oldest recipes. It may be from the technique of pumping the dough into shape with a cornet, which would look to the baker like a streak of lightning. It's also possible that the strip of cream visible between sandwiched layers was thought to resemble a streak of lightning. There is also a common jovial explanation that it's because the cake is "eaten in a flash" as famously used by The Chambers Dictionary in its definition of the eclair as "a cake, long in shape but short in duration."
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