What an absolutely fantastic response from one of the CockroachDB guys to the endlessly tedious naming criticism! (The only open issue on it also made me laugh.)
A mong or mongoloid was originally a racial description/slur, then it transformed into a disability description (a downs syndrome person has mongoloid features) and finally became synonymous with stupid. It's a bit like being called NegroDB.
In this time of PC outrage I honestly don't understand how it doesn't attract more attention.
> In this time of PC outrage I honestly don't understand how it doesn't attract more attention.
Possibly because the shortened slur ("mongo") isn't prevalent in English speaking countries (while PC outrage seems to be a predominantly English effect). It is in other places and in these places it gives the MongoDB project name an extremely negative connotation.
TBH that's actually one of the reasons (besides the poor track record) that I never used it, avoided it and argued for software not requiring it / against using software requiring it.