It's a play on the name "Scheme" and "Schemers" which was continued by the "Racket" and "Racketeers" name. There's something of a history of naming things like

It's a play on the name "Scheme" and "Schemers" which was continued by the "Racket" and "Racketeers" name. There's something of a history of naming things like this in the LISP community. Wikipedia says: "Scheme was originally called 'Schemer', in the tradition of other Lisp-derived languages like Planner or Conniver." Your reaction is, however, valid. People outside the Scheme community and it's closely related communities are unlikely to know this etymology.