I don't recall ever hearing "thousand eye" as a name for these beads.

For a very long time (decades, actually), I thought that the name "skunk bead"—a popular Native American (Plains) name for black beads with white spots—was an odd choice. This being because I thought of skunks as having white stripes—and there are plenty of black beads with white stripes.

However, about ten years ago I was informed (by a high-school student friend), that, in fact, there ARE spotted skunks. And they have a much wider range of occurrence than I would have suspected. So, knowing this (now) the name no longer seems inappropriate. Just unexpected.

Jamey