Yeah...
I don't think it was just a marketing "gimmick"...it was certainly one of the first DAW programs when it debuted under the Pro Tools name back in the early '90s...and it evolved from a couple of other programs...Sound Designer and then Sound Tools, before it became Pro Tools.
So yeah, maybe they figured the name change would imply it was a tool for pros, but TBH, at that time, it really was. I mean...there weren't yet too many home rec guys running DAW systems in the early '90s... because they were so damn expensive.
In '91 Pro Tools cost about $6k...and you got a whopping 4 tracks!!!
If you just consider the name "Pro Tools" today, with so many other DAW apps out there...it might seem like a marketing "gimmick"...but it wasn't back when PT first came out.