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. 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. The BT suffix stands for "Bug Tracker" and distinguishes
this project from general usage of the word Mantis. However, over
time the project was typically referred to as Mantis.