I didn't suggest it as a product name; I just said "Panther" and "Jaguar" both describe the same animal, so it shouldn't be a problem for "Cougar" and "Puma" to describe the same animal.

Incidentally, "Panther" was the first Mac OS X to be released in a black box instead of a white box, and they used shots of black panthers (the cat, not the political group) to promote 10.3. I think they were obviously playing with the allusion even then.

Similarly with Cougar.

"Pad" was met with extreme derision by female tech journalists, their "me too" male counterparts and anyone on Jezebel.

I'm sure Apple's brand is strong enough to overcome the current connotations.

So go with Lion, Mountain Lion, Lynx, Serval. Then it'll be 5-6 years from now and either the slang usage of "cougar" will fall out of use or at least the novelty will be gone and people will interpret it as an allusion to the cat itself.