So I do product marketing for a living, and have launched a whole wack of things with good and bad and boring names. The fact that CockroachDB is consistently on top of HN with each thing they do is pretty strong evidence that they're doing just fine with the name they have, and probably doing even better than if they had a milquetoast tech startup-esque name.
Also, they know what their sales cycles look like. They hear feedback from actual customers. They have people whose job it is to notice any advantage they could have along the way. And yet! They're still selling stuff, they're at 1.0, and they're still alive — with the name they have.
If the name were Milquetoast it would be awesome, because that was the cockroach from Bloom County. Or, was that the joke and I'm only just getting it late? ;)
Also, they know what their sales cycles look like. They hear feedback from actual customers. They have people whose job it is to notice any advantage they could have along the way. And yet! They're still selling stuff, they're at 1.0, and they're still alive — with the name they have.