There is a very popular Anime with an MC named Maomao. My guess would be that the name change is to avoid cross traffic from people looking up info on the anime.

at just a glance I have some theories:

1. the project was named after the creator. Maybe they wanted it to seem more community organized

2. Food reference. Foss developers often name stuff after food, Idk why. Maybe cuz they like mangos (I do too).

3. Dodges copyright or trademark issues. Certain things, like town names (wayland is a town in the US) are essentially uncopyrightable/trademarkable, so by naming your project after those you eliminate a whole host of potential legal issues.

These are just theories though. No reason is actually given, at least not that I could find based on 30s of searching.

To avoid appearing Chinese

No idea really. But I think it a better name.