[TUHS] So who named Unix? [was multicians] Peter Neumann has died]

[Thalia Archibald via TUHS]

Ken wrote the following to a Redditor earlier this month:

On 9 May 2026 at 12:08, Ken Thompson wrote:
> unix was named (phonetically) by bwk.
> i dont think he ever spelled it, but, since
> it was a play on multics, he thought it was
> unics. (you can ask him)
>
> at the time, unix was compiled on the central
> computer at bell labs (GE-625) that produced
> a PDP-7 paper tape. usually i just ran the tape
> and threw it away. when i needed to save a tape,
> i wrote "unix" on the tape. it stuck after that.

https://www.reddit.com/r/unix/comments/1t826y8/emailed_ken_thompson_about_the_unics_to_unix/

The tape part I hadn't heard before and completes the story.

Thalia