Whoever named the ML thing "transformer" deserves a special place in hell. So many intriguing headlines, so few things worth reading. (I'm an EE, so I'm very interested in the other transformers. For some reason, the headlines for these things scan like they could apply to either. Alas, they don't.)
The EE transformer is just as descriptive than the ML transformer.
Your complaint is similar to cryptography conference attendants hating the word ,,crypto'' to change from cryptography to cryptocurrency, but that's just the natural evolution of language with technology (not mentioning that the original meaning of the Greek word is hidden/secret).
The EE transformer was one of a few devices when it was created. It was not part of a field that had already hundreds of concepts with that same name, including a concept that describes everything that looks like a ML transformer.
Of course no, the new naming of crypto comes from cryptocurrency, which comes from currency based on cryptography.
It's not the first time something like this happened, the only difference is that in the past languages evolved similarly in hundreds of years, now a new word can pop up in a day (but most new words get global in just a few years).
Whoever named the ML thing "transformer" deserves a special place in hell. So many intriguing headlines, so few things worth reading. (I'm an EE, so I'm very interested in the other transformers. For some reason, the headlines for these things scan like they could apply to either. Alas, they don't.)