Hear me out.. Everything doesn't have to be an acronym.

To be honest, this seems like a stupid fix to a non-issue.

There's already Latex, and the purists calling it Lateh only make it seem like they know and are ashamed.

Or Uranus being pronounced not as your-anus but urine-us. The "alternate/kid-friendly" option is just plain worse. It also teaches kids certain words are bad, which is a bad idea for a multitude of resons I won't get into.

I say keep GIMP GIMP, loud and clear. No need to be ashamed, because it isn't shameful.

Attempting to avoid this absolute non-issue by ingenious pronounciation or rebranding just exacerbates the issue.

It's called "GIMP" and not "Fuck Me then Go Out The Door". Wether or not GIMP was a moment of "funny humor" or not is beside the point. The "official" explanation is perfectly belieavable, and therefore suitable enough. Just run with it.

If an idiot asks "Why's it called like [insert-here]", just say it's a fucking coincidence and you don't care. Call them dirty-minded for bonus points.

So, we'll pronounce it "Wilbur"?

I'm sure those in charge of this had the argument and went 'round and 'round with it. And, this is what they came up with.

Whatever, we'll get used to it, but I'm not sure it's a good idea. It will probably hurt brand recognition more than the mildly-offensive "GIMP" ever has. At least when noobs heard "gimp", their ears would perk up in mild surprise, and they'd ask what it is, there-by solidifying the product in their minds. "Wilbur" just won't have the same effect, because there's no surprise. They'll ask, but the impact will not be as great, and they'll forget. "Wilbur" is forgettable as a name for anything, or anyone. "Gimp" is not.

Sooo, basically they're changing the name that's somewhat bad in English to the name that's terrible in all languages? Huh.

Couldn’t they just call it IMP(Image Manipulation Program)?

"WLBR"

..just rolllrrrs .. lorrrs .. rolls off the tongue!

What on God’s green earth is WLBR supposed to mean? Why can’t it have a normal, good name?

Why not something pronounceable?

GIMP is GIMP. It’s been GIMP for decades, and that name carries history, recognition, and a community that built something genuine. Rebranding it to WLBR feels like throwing all of that away for the sake of optics that most longtime users like myself frankly don’t care about. It's not progress in any way, it’s unnecessary self-erasure. GIMP works, GIMP is known as such, and GIMP should stay exactly what it is....

I think they should keep both names and just have WLBR be the "enterprise" version.

However, in non-English speaking countries, nobody has an issue with GIMP. And even my very religious and Murican MIL uses Gimp. She doesn't even know.

If anything, those discussions further the association, as they come up when you google "gimp program sexual" or sth like that.

It's short for GNU image manipulation program. I mean, you could short it to imp, or rename it to Picture & Image Manipulation Program (PIMP).

If we stop using words because someone, at some point in time, misused them and attached negative connotations to them, then by 2100 the english language will be censored in its entirety.

Too bad Krita sucked for my express purpose of shitposting when I tried that.

I feel like GIMP is (as of writing) the only good, still maintained thing still on "gn*me.org"

Wiiiilllbuuuuur

It took me reading the comments here to get that it's pronounced Wilbur. I don't get why it needs to be an acronym

Where are people getting that this is a rebrand?

It's just an environment variable you can set that changes the name if it offends you.

From a name you don’t want to say to a name you can’t say

I will be locking this issue to avoid non-core developers spamming with the same walls of texts about the project name.

Bruno is a very wise man.

Since it's called the GNU Image Manipulation Program, why not pick up the extremely low hanging fruit and call it GNU Imp? It also comes with a free mascot.

Edit: And given that Wilber already has a cheeky smile and two horn-like ears, it wouldn't even be that much of a new mascot either. I mean come on people, do I have to think of everything around here?

I can understand the desire to change it given that the current name is arguably a slur in some contexts, but this is a terrible new name. There was a fork awhile back with this same motivation called "Glimpse" - I really think they should have chosen a name with some continuity from the original, and certainly not what looks to be an initialism (I never would have come to "Wilbur" on my own).

Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love.

E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

Years of jokes, wasted.

The great thing about foss is you can call it whatever you want, fork it even if you feel so inclined.