Is it from the protagonist of Heinlein's short story, "The Year of the Jackpot", named Potiphar Breen?
Really? The Breen were first mentioned in 1990, when Eef Van Breen was 12. How precocious of him to have a species named after him at such a young age!
^So it rules out the possibility that their name is a reference to the woman's surname in thic clip, which is from a satyrical comedy from 1994: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G07sWzYObnk