Have babies been named Linux?

Tux the penguin, the Linux mascot
Tux the Linux mascot

In August of 2008, a couple in Sweden named their baby boy Linux after the open-source operating system.

Linux’s dad said that “[t]he reaction from family and friends has been positive — they all like it. Our families think it’s a bit of an unusual name but still a nice one, and our friends like it because it sounds cool!”

He announced the name to fellow Linux users that October, asking community members to send along “any stuff with the name Linux on [it], like stickers, pens, and so on” that they could spare.

The baby name Linux is also being used in the U.S these days:

  • 2015: 6 baby boys named Linux
  • 2014: unlisted
  • 2013: 8 baby boys named Linux
  • 2012: 5 baby boys named Linux [debut]
  • 2011: unlisted

The operating system was created by Finnish software engineer Linus Torvalds. “Linux,” which Torvalds pronounces LEE-nux, is a portmanteau of Linus and Unix (the name of an earlier operating system).

What do you think of the name Linux? Do you like it more or less than Linus?

Update, 5/13/2017: Linux debuted as a girl name in the U.S. baby name data in 2016!

Sources: A baby named Linux – Linux.com, SSA
Image: Tux by Larry Ewing under CC0 1.0.

2 thoughts on “Have babies been named Linux?

  1. I think that people are using Linux as a baby name not because of the operating system, but because they’re using it as a variant spelling of the currently trendy Lennox.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.