I have often wondered about the name. I sent a message to that web page developer. I appreciate Jim being able to post. I am still left wondering why it was named that...I continue to hope that someone will step up with real history, as trivial as this subject is...if Jim's stuff goes back to 2008, it is not likely that we will find the original reason for the name, unless some original developers are lurking about.
I think I qualify:
https://github.com/kk7ds/chirp/commit/bd46071da128df3f1bc5260e029ccbbf1dc937...
That was when my working name for it was 'repidr'. A few days later it got the CHIRP name:
https://github.com/kk7ds/chirp/commit/3069bd82765968f9b74f1e57a527410b184bf4...
The meaning of CHIRP is known to me. I'll confirm it if I see it posted here.
I can confirm it does NOT stand for "CHinese Radio Project". As Jim notes, the first chinese radio wasn't supported until long after the project started.
--Dan