When the beans and rice are combined, the rice gets colored by the beans, and the mix results in a multi-colored, or speckled appearance. Beans are quickly cooked until the juice is almost consumed. Gallo pinto means 'spotted rooster' in Spanish, thus the name fits with the colored rice.
The name is also traditionally believed to have developed to conceal the lack of meat in the dish, which is often considered the core ingredient of a meal, either because it is unavailable or too expensive. So the host serves a dish hoping that those eating it will be fooled into believing it contains chicken, the lack of which being disguised by the texture and speckled appearance of the bean and rice mixture. Those eating are rarely fooled, however, so the pejorative name "gallo pinto" suggesting the dish has been merely "painted rooster" arose.
