The things you learn from reading Wikipedia: etymology of "Debian"

[pne]

Ever wondered where the name "Debian" came from?

I suppose I never really did until reading about it in the Wikipedia article:

Debian was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock, then a university student, who wrote the Debian Manifesto which called for the creation of a Linux distribution to be maintained in an open manner, in the spirit of Linux and GNU.

He chose the name Debian by combining his first name and the first name of his then-girlfriend (now wife) Debra[1], i.e. the word is a portmanteau. The word "Debian" is pronounced as the corresponding syllables of these names are in American English: /deb' ē ən/.

Comments

Re: Pronunciation of "Debian"

[pne.livejournal.com]

Hm, some translations have /deb ii n/ as the pronunciation, which is probably from an older version of the English page - this pronunciation scheme seems even more home-baked, but does seem to imply that it's a short /E/ in the first syllable.

Re: Pronunciation of "Debian"

[pne.livejournal.com]

Though the French uses « dé-byanne »...

Re: Pronunciation of "Debian"

[marikochan.livejournal.com]

That's my guess, if it's true that the first syllable is pronounced like the first syllable of "Debra" in American English -- I pronounce "Debra" with a short /E/.

I really ought to start doing a Wikipedia fact of the day.