Is "putative" something "good" or "bad"?

Question

I've been trying to give some sense to the translation of a Hindi word but I'm conflicted because of the abundance of synonyms and the meaning in other languages.

After translating, cross-referencing with different dictionaries, the word I came to was putative, which, as far as I understood, means, roughly, something believed to be real until something else says otherwise:

The putative father of a child / The alleged father of a child

However, I've found on Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster and even Google Translate itself (and more) words and expressions like reputed, well-known, reckoned, which, under some circumstances and/or languages, might, instead, give the impression of something "good". E.g. I've found reputed meaning renowned.

And I'm sitting on the fence because I'm going to use the word to write an article with multiple translations and I need some degree of consistency, especially because, originally, the Hindi word is used as an adjective for an object, as in noun + preposition + putative.

Answer 1

putative Cambridge Dictionary

generally thought to be or to exist, even if this may not really be true; supposed

Thus, putative does not connote a negative/bad sense nor does it connote a positive/good sense.

As in:

The putative father of a child ... / thought to be the father

A couple of other usages:

Americans worked themselves into a tizzy over the putative threat posed by small numbers of homegrown subversives. Salon Sep 16, 2018

and

When your putative successes are faked, you’re not entitled to self-respect. New York Times Oct 8, 2018

Answer 2

TL;DR: I would use "alleged" to convey uncertainty where something is openly claimed by someone and "reputed" if there is no specific claim, but still the belief exists among people.

Some of the words you've suggested convey uncertainty about a given situation. "Alleged" is where someone has claimed something that has yet to be proved. "Reputed" and "putative" mean something is widely regarded by many people to be something, but again there is no definitive proof. Uncertainty or lack of proof implies that statements could be false or unwitting lies, and that is the source of the negative connotations.

If you consider uncertainty itself as simply a condition, neither positive nor negative, then these words lose their negative connotations. "Alleged" is commonly used to refer to people being tried for particular crimes. Whether someone is a murderer or not is decided by a trial, so until the trial is over, they are an alleged murderer. News reports use this frequently, whenever there is uncertainty.

"Renowned" is altogether different. It simply means known by many people or famous. There is no uncertainty, so on it's own, it has a largely positive feel. You cannot use it where there is uncertainty, though.