6 ms·

I wouldn't use it because I just don't want to see and write its name daily.

by MockObject 9y ago

krylon 9y ago
Well, it is open source, you can just fork it and rename it to, say, ButterflyDB. ;-)
cblades 9y ago
Well that's silly.
shepardrtc 9y ago
People are downvoting you, but there's something to be said about it. What happens if you try to pitch CockroachDB to your non-techie upper management? They're going to look at you like you're an idiot. Names aren't important unless they're bad because first impressions do matter.
- ontofractal 9y ago
  > They're going to look at you like you're an idiot. Are they really going to? As someone with many years of marketing/branding/advertising experience, CockroachDB is a bold, powerful and meaningful name, that, in my opinion, is one of the best branding cases I've ever seen for tech infra products.
- knz42 9y ago
  Say "CRDB" and move on with your day.
  - rattray 9y ago
    While I agree with the spirit, and don't share gp's attitude, that probably wouldn't be effective for web search.
- lucozade 9y ago
  I'm guessing that the downvotes are because people consider the stated reason to be a terrible one. Your point, which is that other people may use the same justification, doesn't validate the point. It just means that there may be more than one person who would use the same, poor, reason.
- is_true 9y ago
  I think the opposite. The name makes it easier to describe what it does to people that doesn't understand the technical vocabulary.
  - hunterjrj 9y ago
    In this case, with the connotations that the name "coach roach" is associated with, you'd be wrong: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/molly-reynolds/why-brand-names-are-so-im_b_11930994.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/molly-reynolds/why-brand-name...
    - megaman22 9y ago
      The only connotations I've got with cockroaches is resiliency, and maybe hissing?
      - rhencke 9y ago
        I guess that does explain the custom support for PRAGMA hissing_noise();
- hiccuphippo 9y ago
  How often do you pitch the name of the tools you use to upper management? I just say we are going to use a database.
benmmurphy 9y ago
are people really serious when they say they won't use the product because of its name or is this some kind of HN meme where everyone complains about the name everytime there is an article on cockroachDB
- Kiro 9y ago
  I refuse to use it until they change the name. It's disgusting.
  - triangleman 9y ago
    Cockroaches are awesome! The name[0] is sort of a back-formation from a loan word cucaracha which simply refers to a beetle. But in English it takes on a new meaning because of the word "cock" which gives it a real badass connotation, and these things are indeed badass. Now we also have the shortened word "roach" which is also an awesome word for the language. BTW, in SC2 you will want to look out for 6 or 7 Roaches[1] knocking down the front door of your base[2]. Back to the awesome creation of God[3] commonly known as the cockroach. According to Wikipedia[4], there are some 4600 known species of cockroaches, and only 30 of them are associated with human habitats. The rest of them are basically outdoor roaches, so if you find one in your house they are probably there by accident and trying to find a way out. In fact, the only species you really need to worry about is the so-called "German" cockroach, which Germans call the Russian roach, and Russians call the Polish roach (and I'm sure the Poles blame the Turks or some such group). If you see this roach in your house then you are in trouble. They like dirty houses so clean your house. And they have evolved to avoid sweets so you have to buy the correct kind of bait[5]. I like to spin long yarns about my battles against these bugs to anyone who cares to listen. In the end you need to deal with the humans who are too friendly to these roaches. Look for college students who live 3-4 to an apartment and go home for the weekend, people who work long hours and leave bags of half-eaten fast food in their open trash cans, and other unfortunate neighbors. Knock on their door and give them packs of the aforementioned roach bait to leave around their dwellings (this requires some tact). In time you can certainly eliminate them, thanks to modern chemistry. It should cost less than $50 and a few months of vigilance. Frankly the German roach doesn't really fit the profile of your average cockroach. It's slow and seems to be asking you, almost daring you, to kill it, knowing there are 20 others that will take its place. A standard cockroach is the kind that runs away really fast, and would be just as happy living outdoors. They are far more widespread and just as survivable as the pest species, and lend their name to an awesome database product that will probably outlive discussions about its name. I for one hope the creators keep the name and use the human revulsion about it as a marketing benefit. No one will forget their encounter with the mighty cockroach, and business people will come to associate it with sustainable competitive advantage which cockroaches have in spades. [0]: https://www.etymonline.com/word/cockroach https://www.etymonline.com/word/cockroach [1]: http://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Roach_(Legacy_of_the_Void) http://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Roach_(Legacy_of_the_Void) [2]: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/11/02/genetic-algorithms-find-build-order-from-hell/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/11/02/genetic-algorith... [3]: Genesis 1:24-25 [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach [5]: https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Month-Roach-Killing-Station/dp/B000KL1LDE https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Month-Roach-Killing-Station/dp...
atwebb 9y ago
Google seemed like a stupid name the first time I heard it...
hunterjrj 9y ago
The connotations that the name "coach roach" stir up aren't positive. People are grossed out by coach roaches. The good news is that DBs are a niche of their own and as such don't need to appeal to the masses, making the name choice somewhat less important. But I still think, as someone else already pointed out here, that selling an exec (or non-tech decision maker) on this will be just slightly more difficult because of the name, as irrational as that might seem.

I wouldn't use it because I just don't want to see and write its name daily.

krylon 9y ago

Well, it is open source, you can just fork it and rename it to, say, ButterflyDB. ;-)

cblades 9y ago

Well that's silly.

shepardrtc 9y ago

People are downvoting you, but there's something to be said about it. What happens if you try to pitch CockroachDB to your non-techie upper management? They're going to look at you like you're an idiot. Names aren't important unless they're bad because first impressions do matter.

ontofractal 9y ago
> They're going to look at you like you're an idiot. Are they really going to? As someone with many years of marketing/branding/advertising experience, CockroachDB is a bold, powerful and meaningful name, that, in my opinion, is one of the best branding cases I've ever seen for tech infra products.
knz42 9y ago
Say "CRDB" and move on with your day.
- rattray 9y ago
  While I agree with the spirit, and don't share gp's attitude, that probably wouldn't be effective for web search.
lucozade 9y ago
I'm guessing that the downvotes are because people consider the stated reason to be a terrible one. Your point, which is that other people may use the same justification, doesn't validate the point. It just means that there may be more than one person who would use the same, poor, reason.
is_true 9y ago
I think the opposite. The name makes it easier to describe what it does to people that doesn't understand the technical vocabulary.
- hunterjrj 9y ago
  In this case, with the connotations that the name "coach roach" is associated with, you'd be wrong: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/molly-reynolds/why-brand-names-are-so-im_b_11930994.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/molly-reynolds/why-brand-name...
  - megaman22 9y ago
    The only connotations I've got with cockroaches is resiliency, and maybe hissing?
    - rhencke 9y ago
      I guess that does explain the custom support for PRAGMA hissing_noise();
hiccuphippo 9y ago
How often do you pitch the name of the tools you use to upper management? I just say we are going to use a database.

benmmurphy 9y ago

are people really serious when they say they won't use the product because of its name or is this some kind of HN meme where everyone complains about the name everytime there is an article on cockroachDB

Kiro 9y ago
I refuse to use it until they change the name. It's disgusting.
- triangleman 9y ago
  Cockroaches are awesome! The name[0] is sort of a back-formation from a loan word cucaracha which simply refers to a beetle. But in English it takes on a new meaning because of the word "cock" which gives it a real badass connotation, and these things are indeed badass. Now we also have the shortened word "roach" which is also an awesome word for the language. BTW, in SC2 you will want to look out for 6 or 7 Roaches[1] knocking down the front door of your base[2]. Back to the awesome creation of God[3] commonly known as the cockroach. According to Wikipedia[4], there are some 4600 known species of cockroaches, and only 30 of them are associated with human habitats. The rest of them are basically outdoor roaches, so if you find one in your house they are probably there by accident and trying to find a way out. In fact, the only species you really need to worry about is the so-called "German" cockroach, which Germans call the Russian roach, and Russians call the Polish roach (and I'm sure the Poles blame the Turks or some such group). If you see this roach in your house then you are in trouble. They like dirty houses so clean your house. And they have evolved to avoid sweets so you have to buy the correct kind of bait[5]. I like to spin long yarns about my battles against these bugs to anyone who cares to listen. In the end you need to deal with the humans who are too friendly to these roaches. Look for college students who live 3-4 to an apartment and go home for the weekend, people who work long hours and leave bags of half-eaten fast food in their open trash cans, and other unfortunate neighbors. Knock on their door and give them packs of the aforementioned roach bait to leave around their dwellings (this requires some tact). In time you can certainly eliminate them, thanks to modern chemistry. It should cost less than $50 and a few months of vigilance. Frankly the German roach doesn't really fit the profile of your average cockroach. It's slow and seems to be asking you, almost daring you, to kill it, knowing there are 20 others that will take its place. A standard cockroach is the kind that runs away really fast, and would be just as happy living outdoors. They are far more widespread and just as survivable as the pest species, and lend their name to an awesome database product that will probably outlive discussions about its name. I for one hope the creators keep the name and use the human revulsion about it as a marketing benefit. No one will forget their encounter with the mighty cockroach, and business people will come to associate it with sustainable competitive advantage which cockroaches have in spades. [0]: https://www.etymonline.com/word/cockroach https://www.etymonline.com/word/cockroach [1]: http://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Roach_(Legacy_of_the_Void) http://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Roach_(Legacy_of_the_Void) [2]: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/11/02/genetic-algorithms-find-build-order-from-hell/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/11/02/genetic-algorith... [3]: Genesis 1:24-25 [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach [5]: https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Month-Roach-Killing-Station/dp/B000KL1LDE https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Month-Roach-Killing-Station/dp...

atwebb 9y ago

Google seemed like a stupid name the first time I heard it...

hunterjrj 9y ago

The connotations that the name "coach roach" stir up aren't positive. People are grossed out by coach roaches. The good news is that DBs are a niche of their own and as such don't need to appeal to the masses, making the name choice somewhat less important. But I still think, as someone else already pointed out here, that selling an exec (or non-tech decision maker) on this will be just slightly more difficult because of the name, as irrational as that might seem.