Using Blender and probably other 3D authoring tools, you can name the materials assigned to the faces of the mesh. These names are then included in the export to DAE and GLTF/GLB files. But as soon as it's uploaded to SL, this information is either lost or at least is unavailable to viewer and scripts. In SL we can only access the so-called "side number", which is used for various things such as tinting or applying a material asset with a script.

It would be helpful if the material names in a mesh upload could be retained, such that it then can be accessed by scripts, and possibly by viewers too should it be desired in for example the toolbox window.

I will file a separate ticket referencing this one, regarding how this could be used with scripts. It's now found at https://feedback.secondlife.com/scripting-features/p/get-list-of-assigned-material-names-for-mesh-sides

I don't believe that this feature will have any negative consequences beyond increased data storage utilization.