Is there any authoritative documentation on R release nicknames?

In response to an email asking if there is a system to the names, Peter Dalgaard states there is

"No system (except that they should be in season at release time)"

Thus, they are not alphabetical or otherwise ordinal -- there is apparently not a way to infer the order of releases from their nicknames.

There is, however, the appearance of a possible general theme:

  • r-devel (unreleased development version) Unsuffered Consequences
  • 2.14.0 (2011-10-31) Great Pumpkin
  • 2.14.1 (2011-12-22) December Snowflakes
  • 2.14.2 (2012-02-29) Gift-Getting Season
  • 2.15.0 (2012-03-30) Easter Beagle
  • 2.15.1 (2012-06-22) Roasted Marshmallows
  • 2.15.2 (2012-10-26) Trick or Treat
  • 2.15.3 (2013-03-01) Security Blanket
  • 3.0.0 (2013-04-03) Masked Marvel
  • 3.0.1 (2013-05-16) Good Sport
  • 3.0.2 (2013-09-25) Frisbee Sailing
  • 3.0.3 (2014-03-06) Warm Puppy
  • 3.1.0 (2014-04-10) Spring Dance
  • 3.1.1 (2014-07-10) Sock it to Me
  • 3.1.2 (2014-10-31) Pumpkin Helmet
  • 3.1.3 (2015-03-09) Smooth Sidewalk
  • 3.2.0 (2015-04-16) Full of Ingredients
  • 3.2.1 (2015-06-18) World-Famous Astronaut
  • 3.2.2 (2015-08-14) Fire Safety
  • 3.2.3 (2015-12-10) Wooden Christmas-Tree
  • 3.2.4 (2016-03-11) Very Secure Dishes
  • 3.2.5 (2016-04-11) Very, Very Secure Dishes (a rebadged 3.2.4-revised)
  • 3.3.0 (2016-05-03) Supposedly Educational
  • 3.3.1 (2016-06-21) Bug in Your Hair
  • 3.3.2 (2016-10-31) Sincere Pumpkin Patch
  • 3.3.3 (2017-03-06) Another Canoe
  • 3.4.0 (2017-04-21) You Stupid Darkness
  • 3.4.1 (2017-06-30) Single Candle
  • 3.4.2 (2017-09-28) Short Summer
  • 3.4.3 (2017-11-30) Kite-Eating Tree
  • 3.4.4 (2018-03-15) Someone to Lean On
  • 3.5.0 (2018-04-23) Joy in Playing
  • 3.5.1 (2018-07-02) Feather Spray
  • 3.5.2 (2018-12-20) Eggshell Igloo
  • 3.5.3 (2019-03-11) Great Truth
  • 3.6.0 (2019-04-26) Planting of a Tree
  • 3.6.1 (2019-07-05) Action of the Toes
  • 3.6.2 (2019-12-12) Dark and Stormy Night
  • 3.6.3 (2020-02-29) Holding the Windsock
  • 4.0.0 (2020-04-24) Arbor Day
  • 4.0.1 (2020-06-06) See Things Now
  • 4.0.2 (2020-06-22) Taking Off Again
  • 4.0.3 (2020-10-10) Bunny-Wunnies Freak Out
  • 4.0.4 (2021-02-15) Lost Library Book
  • 4.0.5 (2021-03-31) Shake and Throw
  • 4.1.0 (2021-05-18) Camp Pontanezen
  • 4.1.1 (2021-08-10) Kick Things
  • 4.1.2 (2021-11-01) Bird Hippie
  • 4.1.3 (2022-03-10) One Push-Up
  • 4.2.0 (2022-04-22) Vigorous Calisthenics
  • 4.2.1 (2022-06-23) Funny-Looking Kid

As no one has uncovered any documentation, I'll tentatively accept my own answer.


Peter Delgaard has confirmed that the release names are taken from the Peanuts comics, in his talk made at useR!2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1vTSdRolgI

At about 8 minutes in is when he starts talking about the release names (screenshot from the video):

enter image description here

He also references this site for an explanation of the releases: http://livefreeordichotomize.com/2018/04/23/r-release-names/


I'm surprised @joran didn't follow up on his own hint in the comments section. All of the version names can be traced directly to the Peanuts cartoon. I stumbled upon the evidence in my daily peanuts desktop calendar:

enter image description here

I provided an answer here: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-reasons-behind-the-release-names-of-the-various-R-iterations.

A few more examples:

(Frisbee Sailing)

enter image description here

enter image description here

(World Famous Astronaut)

enter image description here

It's too easy - just Google the version names followed by "Peanuts" and you'll find all of them!

The follow up question to this is: Who in the R Core Team loves Peanuts and got this started?

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R