I think both you and the article are correct. Here's a bit more context [1], it seems both Ruby and Coral were considered in part due to their connection with Perl, and in the end Ruby won because it "sounds better" and also because it's Matz's birthstone:

1: https://web.archive.org/web/20110717205734/http://blade.naga...

Edit: this also provides a clue for Perl's naming, it's "related to a shell" (I don't know if this is accurate)