It may be a coincidence or just an hommage for Satoshi, but yes at that time the Cryptonote protocol came out, Satoshi would have been one of the rare guys able to develop it.
Nicolas van Saberhagen (NS) and Satoshi Nakamoto (SN) and Shen Noether (SN) initials play could be just fun or perhaps a small hint. Would be funny if Satoshi was really involved in the Cryptonote and XMR origins.