Postgres vs PostgreSQL - What is the difference?

PostgreSQL is now the most advanced open-source database management system. In some places people call it PostgreSQL but in the others, it’s simply called Postgres. This naming question regarding Postgres vs PostgreSQL has raised a lot of discussions within the community.

Let’s go through some milestones in the history of PostgreSQL to see why the name Postgres came in the first place.

PostgreSQL was actually derived from the POSTGRES package written at the University of California at Berkeley, or the Berkeley POSTGRES Project started in 1986.
In 1993, the Berkeley POSTGRES project officially ended at the Version 4.2, in an effort to reduce the burden of maintaining the prototype code and supporting when the community grew so fast.
In 1994, Postgres95 was built on top of POSTGRES code and added an SQL language interpreter as a replacement for the query language PostQUEL.
In 1996, the name Postgres95 became obsolete and a new name was needed. PostgreSQL was chosen to reflect the relationship between the original POSTGRES project and the SQL capability.

After that. many people still refer to it as Postgres, saying it’s easier to pronounce. It’s then widely accepted as a nickname or alias while “PostgreSQL” is complex and has several verbal options, e.g. Postgres-Q-L, Postgres Sequel”, Postgre Sequel”. There were also several attemps to adopt Postgres as the official name.

The naming discussion is still on hold and PostgreSQL even has a dedicated wiki page for it. They listed out some pros and cons as well:

Pros of changing the name to “Postgres”:

Already used that way by many people
Almost everyone speaks it that way
Many of the projects, scripts, etc. use that name
- Default database for all new clusters
- Default username for all distros
- check_postgres, Postgres-R, Postgres Plus
Less problems translating to other languages
No pronunciation problems
Does not encourage weird derivations such as “Postgre” and “PostgresQL”
SQL is the de-facto standard, no need to emphasize it anymore in the name…
…but if we ever change to something besides, it won’t be a problem. :)
No more worries about mixed caps and color schemes on letters.
Google search on “Postgres” still brings back PostgreSQL hits (e.g. first hit is postgresql.org, which does not contain the word “Postgres”)
- Is this actually a “pro”? This suggests to me that it some efforts may be unnecessary, which is more of a “con.”
Advocacy efforts could start with features, not pronunciation corrections/disclaimers.
Some friendly companies already using this name would benefit.

Cons of changing the name to “Postgres”:

Abandonment
- Discards 8+ years of advocacy of the “PostgreSQL” name
- No other major free software project has changed names voluntarily
  - Rebuttal: But no other major project has such an ugly unpronounceable name
Confusion
- 1-2 years of answering “Is Postgres a fork? Which should I use?”
- Increased confusion with Ingres and Progress (yes, it’s still around)
Some community may be opposed to the change (research needed)
- Downstream projects may get annoyed with the name change and drop PostgreSQL support
  - Rebuttal: seems very unlikely
- Some corporate supporters may be unhappy about renaming materials/marketing/packaging
- Some OSes/distributions may get frustrated and drop PostgreSQL distribution
  - Rebuttal: extraordinarily unlikely, bordering on FUD
Work (see below)
- Will be lots of work
- Currently not enough Advocacy volunteers for routine tasks
  - May result in other advocacy tasks not getting done
A minority of the community apparently prefers “PostgreSQL”
Some big regional groups (like .fr, .eu) don’t have control over “postgres.something” domain
Some friendly companies using PostgreSQL would lose benefits or have to rephrase their taglines or other references to PostgreSQL.

According to Dave Page, PostgreSQL Core Team:

Following recent discussions on a name change for the project, it has become clear that consensus within the community will never be reached. In light of this, the core team has discussed the matter in depth and decided that the project shall continue to use the name PostgreSQL, but accept the use of Postgres as an alias.

In short: Postgres is an accepted nickname for the project, but only PostgreSQL is the official name for now.

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