this post was submitted on 09 May 2026

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Someone emailed Ken Thompson about the UNICS to UNIX namechange. Actually got a reply (files.mastodon.social)

submitted 3 days ago by not_IO@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/linux@programming.dev

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Answer transcribed by moi:

Unix was named (phonetically) by bwk. I don't 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. Usually, I just ran the tape and threw it away. When I needed to save a tape, I wrote "Unix" on the tape. It [the name] stuck after that.