Despite the frequent and repeated opposition by a vocal minority, this was bound to happen sooner or later (and needed to in order to simplify things for new users). If people are adamant they don't like the name, feel free to call it something else, but then most people won't be able to tell what you're talking about. Bits are almost certainly becoming a new standard that the majority will use.
Yes, but exactly because bits has become some kind of meme and very clever propaganda. Many polls were rigged to make believe having 'any' name for uXBT is the same as naming it a 'bit'. These polls and discussion topics were rigged to make bit seem more popular than they were.
By rigging the poll and faking popularity, many people believed in this popularity, making it a self fulfilling prophecy. However there are better options than naming it bit.
Also, there's still many people in support of the metric system, which is in my opinion still the best option. A nickname derived from the metric system would in my opinion be the absolute best and least confusing to newcomers.
This is already a standard practice in other currencies around the world.
Cents: derived from centi (just like percent) meaning 1/100th
Mills: (less used obviously, but used in financial markets and at fuel stations) derived from milli (meaning 1/1000th)
Mikes: (not used yet because no currency supports such small denominations) derived from micro, meaning 1/millionth)
You could even expand it to nanos, picos, femtos etc.
I would not be surprised if in 10 years or so mills and mikes will be as common use in language as cents and dimes.