About the Name

Mantis Manual

About the Name
Last Modified: August 21, 2003 13:08PM

(Any)

Description

When initially seeking to name this project Ken ran into a problem every programmer encounters. What is a good name?

It has to be descriptive, unique, and not too verbose. Additionally having multiple meanings would be a nice touch or the perceptive.

Quickly ruled out were php*Something* names which, incidentally, although popular, do not seem to be condoned by the PHP Group developers.

Drawing inspiration from Open Source projects like Apache, Mozilla, Gnome, and so forth resulted in two eventual choices: Dragonfly and Mantis. Dragonfly was already the name of a webmail package. So the name became Mantis.

Praying Mantis are insects that feed primarily on other insects and bugs. They are extremely desirable in agriculture as they devour insects that feed on crops. They are also extremely elegant looking creatures.

So, we have a name that is fairly distinctive and descriptive in multiple ways. And that is how the project was named.

User Contributed Notes
About the Name

mulrich@bct-techbology.com 22-Aug-2003 9:22	`#3`
`I had to look it up, in German it means: Mantis: die Gottesanbeterin French: mantis: mante religieuse Its an insect that eats insects. On google you can find some images...`

iface@feiss.beNOSPAM 11-Sep-2003 8:06	`#8`
`In Spanish: "Mantis Religiosa"`

1@2 16-Sep-2003 4:49	`#10`
`In Dutch: bidsprinkhaan`

dantec@pieslinger.net 26-Sep-2003 14:42	`#11`
`In native south american, it's called Mamboreta.`

michael.day@NOSPAMreadingroom.com 31-Oct-2003 7:44	`#19`
`The Mantis (or Preying Mantis to give it it's full name) is also the main god of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Or so says Laurens van der Post and I have no reason to doubt him. M`

hdahlin@stockholm.actaris.com 06-Nov-2003 1:02	`#22`
`In Swedish it's called Bönsyrsa. The word "bön" means prayer so I guess it must look like it is praying (not preying, although that's probably more accurate...)`

anonym 12-Nov-2003 13:00	`#24`
`Turkish : peygamber devesi (meaning Prophet's Camel) weird .!`

rotting@firemail.de 24-Nov-2003 0:57	`#26`
`In greek its named "Panagitsa" which means something like "little Mother of Christ". I ve encountered a BIG green one of these, more than 10 cm (NO SHIT) and it was starring me very kindly. I love such animals. Respect them. Good name`

lixuyuan991@sohu.com 11-Dec-2003 18:48	`#34`
`In China:ó«òë`

nobody 16-Dec-2003 13:21	`#37`
`Russian: Âèêàðèðóþùàÿ óõîâåðòêà English pronounciation of the Russian: Vikariruyushchaya ukhovertka`

www.disain.ru 24-Jan-2004 1:36	`#59`
`Russian: Áîãîìîë [bogomol]`

Last updated: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 - 20:27:45