Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!ur-valhalla!deke
From: deke@valhalla.ee.rochester.edu
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: what does "UNIX" really stand for?
Summary: whatever you want
Message-ID: <1507@valhalla.ee.rochester.edu>
Date: 1 Oct 88 16:38:01 GMT
References: <1681@daisy.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@valhalla.ee.rochester.edu
Reply-To: deke@ee.rochester.edu (Dikran Kassabian)
Organization: UR Dept. of Electrical Engg, Rochester NY 14627
Lines: 17


In article <1681@daisy.UUCP> klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee) writes:
>Kernighan called it "castrated Multics", thus UNIX.  
>Anyone want to confirm or deny this?
>
>Ken

There are lots of great stories around about the origin of the name.
One book I have seen claims that it is an acronym for

Universal INteractive eXecutive

I've always believed the 'castrated Multics' version, but I like Roy Smith's
story best so far.

      ^Deke Kassabian,   deke@ee.rochester.edu   or   ur-valhalla!deke
   Univ of Rochester, Dept of EE, Rochester, NY 14627     (+1 716-275-3106)