Tux - The Linux Penguin Logo - Design and History

Anyway familiar with Linux has seen its logo, Tux the penguin, but I am not sure how many of you knew his name or how he originated. In 1996 when the OS was picking up steam, there was a suggestion to design a logo for the Linux operating system. Many designers came up with the logos, some being parodies of other Unix flavors while others were based on animals such the shark and eagle. Linus Torvalds, mentioned that he was rather fond of penguins and then the entire focus shifted to building a penguin based logo. In one of his emails, Linux gave his thoughts on how the penguin should look like and Tux was born out of that ideas. 

Why was he called Tux. There are a couple of theories here.

- The first was (T)orvalds (U)ni(X) which resulted in TUX
- The other reason was that penguins look like they are wearing a Tuxedo.

Some of the other names included Homer (from the Simpsons) and Linnie.