PostgreSQL Elephant Logo


There was a time once we at ITPUG produced brochures to introduce people to PostgreSQL. In such flyers there was always a reference to the elephant logo used by the PostgreSQL project. The claim to such logo (according to our flyers) was due to the speed, size, and most notably memory of elephants. Thanks to a post by Bruce Momjian I can also link the original source, at least one of the oldest one: in this email thread it is reported an email from the first quarter of 1997 suggesting the usage of the elephant as logo, and the reason was the memory of such animals as in the novels by Agatha Christie Elephants can remember. There is a notably exception around the world: the Japan PostgreSQL Users’ Community uses a turtle as a logo. I remember clearly, while introducing the first Italian PostgreSQL Day (PGDay.IT) back in 2007 when JPUG explained to all the attendees the reasons. Long story short, in 1995 there was a terroristic attack in the Tokyo subway, known as the Tokyo subway sarin attack, during which terrorist released a toxin (sarin) within the subway causing deads and hurts. Since appears that the attackers used a blue elephant as a logo, japanese people refuse to adopt such a symbol (even if not the same) as a peace-community logo. The turtle was therefore chosen since it was the original Ingres Logo, being that the predecessor of PostgreSQL.

The article PostgreSQL Elephant Logo has been posted by Luca Ferrari on November 28, 2017