MySQL Manual
1 General Information
1.2.1 History of MySQL
We started out with the intention of using mSQL to connect to our
tables using our own fast low-level (ISAM) routines. However, after some
testing we came to the conclusion that mSQL was not fast enough nor
flexible enough for our needs. This resulted in a new SQL interface to our
database but with almost the same API interface as mSQL. This API was
chosen to ease porting of third-party code.
The derivation of the name MySQL is not clear. Our base
directory and a large number of our libraries and tools have had the prefix
``my'' for well over 10 years. However, co-founder Monty Widenius's daughter
(some years younger) is also named My. Which of the two gave its name to
MySQL is still a mystery, even for us.
The name of the MySQL Dolphin (our logo) is Sakila. Sakila was chosen
by the founders of MySQL AB from a huge list of names suggested by users
in our "Name the Dolphin" contest. The winning name was submitted by
Ambrose Twebaze, an open source software developer from Swaziland, Africa.
According to Ambrose, the name Sakila has its roots in SiSwati, the local
language of Swaziland. Sakila is also the name of a town in Arusha,
Tanzania, near Ambrose's country of origin, Uganda.
