Why is it called Lemmy?

Slynk@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 141 points –

Sorry if someone has already asked this. This is my first post on Lemmy. I mean, I guess you could ask the same question about Reddit but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Read-It. But what does Lemmy mean? Is it a cute word for a small lemon?

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I guess it’s a tradition to name fediverse projects after animals and the original creator was a big fan of the Lemmings games and Lemmy from Motorhead had just died.

Here’s a link with info on the origin story:

https://lemmy.eus/post/5460

1 more...

IDK but I can't stop thinking of Lemmiwinks from South Park.

My SO always asks if I am “Lemmiwinking”. It does make me chuckle as my mind goes straight to South Park.

The name and the icon made me assume it was a South Park reference

My SO always asks if I am “Lemmiwinking”. It does make me chuckle as my mind goes straight to South Park.

Like Spider-Man villains, all Fediverse services have to be named after animals. Probably.

what animal is Mysterio ?

Rey Mysterio, jr was part of the wrestling stable called the Filthy Animals.

Rey Mysterio is more likely named after the Spider-man villain than the reverse. Mysterio the Spider-man villain was created about a decade before the man who became Rey Mysterio was even born.

This gets asked a lot, but we need a definitive answer from the guy who started the project, damn it. He just won't tell us other than some vague references to "Lemmy" things. I guess there's this;

It was nameless for a long time, but I wanted to keep with the fediverse tradition of naming projects after animals. I was playing that old-school game Lemmings, and Lemmy (from motorhead) had passed away that week, and we held a few polls for names, and I went with that.

Thanks for all the answers. Do you want blue? Lemmy smash.

I originally thought it was named after one of the authors of ActivityPub (which Lemmy is based on), Christine Lemmer-Webber. But I think that's maybe just coincidence?