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

[Lars Brinkhoff via TUHS]

Thalia Archibald wrote:
> https://www.reddit.com/r/unix/comments/1t826y8/emailed_ken_thompson_about_the_unics_to_unix/

That's a link to a Reddit post that contains a screenshot of an email thread.
Sic transit.  For the record, I will type it in and send it to TUHS.

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Subject: UNICS to UNIX name change

Hello Ken.

Firstly, I really admire your contributions towards
the UNIX/Linux community. Without you, all of what
we have now would not have been possible.

I just have this burning question. I am aware of
"UNICS" eventually being changed to "UNIX". But
what a lot of us are wondering is, why did
this name change occur? As far as I know, the
exact reason for this change is has never been
officially confirmed.

I hope you, as one of the founding fathers, can
enlighten us. Thank you so much for everything
you've done,

<redacted>

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>From Ken Thompson
To <redacted>
Date 9 Man 2026, 12:03 am

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-635) that produced
a PDP-7 paper tape. ususally 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.

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Hi Ken

Thank you so much for responding!! That's very
interesting.

Is it okay if I share this on the internet, or would you
rather keep this private?

Thanks in advance
<redacted>

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sure