As per andi, similar names are for legacy reasons only.

CODING_STANDARDS

@@ -162,23 +162,17 @@ Optional arguments are written like this:
 
 And yes, please keep everything on a single line, even if that line is massive.
 
-User Aliases
---------------------
-You may also have some user-level aliases with close to duplicate
+Aliases & Legacy Documentation
+-----------------------------------
+You may also have some deprecated aliases with close to duplicate
 names, for example, somedb_select_result and somedb_selectresult. For
 documentation puposes, these will only be documented by the most
-clearly separated name, with the aliases listed in the documentation for
+current name, with the aliases listed in the documentation for
 the parent function. For ease of reference, user-functions with
 completely different names, that alias to the same function (such as
 highlight_file and show_source), will be separately documented. The
 proto should still be included, describing which function is aliased.
 
-
-Legacy Documentation
---------------------
-In order to retire older function naming conventions, older
-function name variants, when changed, will only be documented under
-their current function name, as aliases. Backwards compatible functions
-and names should be maintained as long as the code can be reasonably
-be kept as part of the codebase. See /phpdoc/README for me information
-on documentation.
+Backwards compatible functions and names should be maintained as long
+as the code can be reasonably be kept as part of the codebase. See
+/phpdoc/README for me information on documentation.