Camelia is the name of the butterfly mascot, hence the suggestion to use it as the name of the language. rakudo, the language tool, basically translates as "wa

Camelia is the name of the butterfly mascot, hence the suggestion to use it as the name of the language. rakudo, the language tool, basically translates as "way of the camel" playing on the use of the camel as Perl's O'Reilly book mascot. "Raku" or "raku", would basically be calling the language "camel" and the tool "way of the camel" which has a certain appeal as well. However, the camel has never been really directly associated specifically with the new language except in the names rakudo and raku. So as I see it, there are good arguments for either side of this. Knowing Liz and Wendy I doubt their suggestion has much more to do with being girly than my feelings on the matter. I think it has more to do with making the clean break really, really clean. Unfortunately all this furor within the community and even from without has nearly convinced both ladies to leave the community they've been pillars of for two and a half decades. They've suffered personal attacks over this and their participation in anything Perl related is likely to be curtailed if not ended. It's a sad, sad day because Wendy's one of my favorite people at the conferences.