Why is Python Named After Monty Python?

The world’s most popular programming language is named after a British comedy troupe. Here’s the story.

The origin story

In December 1989, Guido van Rossum — then a researcher at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica in Amsterdam — began writing a new programming language over the Christmas holidays. He needed a name that was “short, unique, and slightly mysterious.”

He was also a fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the BBC sketch show that ran from 1969 to 1974. The name stuck, and Python was born.

The connection runs deep in the Python community. The official documentation uses phrases like spam and eggs in code examples instead of the traditional foo and bar. The package installer is calledpip — as in “pip install”, which Pythonistas will recognise as a nod to the self-referential humour the Pythons were known for.

Guido himself wrote in the language’s README: “I chose Python as a working title for the project, being in a slightly irreverent mood (and a big fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus).”

Some Python wisdom

A random selection of quotes from the team Python was named after.

  • An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
    — Monty Python's Flying Circus
  • Pardon me, is this the right room for an argument?
    — Monty Python's Flying Circus
  • It wouldn't 'voom' if you put four million volts through it.
    — Monty Python's Flying Circus
  • Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
    — Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
    — Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • Always look on the bright side of life.
    — Monty Python's Life of Brian
  • You don't vote for kings.
    — Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • I'd like to have an argument, please.
    — Monty Python's Flying Circus
  • Sorry I'm late, headmaster. I've been wrestling with Plato.
    — Monty Python's Flying Circus
  • We are an anarcho-syndicalist commune.
    — Monty Python and the Holy Grail