From a process standpoint, merge-request is probably more accurate, but I've always thought pull-request captured the hearts and minds of developers because it

From a process standpoint, merge-request is probably more accurate, but I've always thought pull-request captured the hearts and minds of developers because it better represents how the requester feels about the request. "Pull request" communicates "I just did a bunch of work, please recognize it and me." "Merge request" communicates "I just did something that is going to make your life hard, please do a bunch of work on my behalf." The later may be more accurate but the former is more emotionally satisfying to the dev making the request. Edit: reducing verbosity