Naming of the Pi
Summary
The group was originally named "Washington's Apple ][" by motion at the 3/2/79 Bethesda Library meeting, at the suggestion of Genevie Urban (Bernard Urban's wife). John Moon's covering letter for the proposed constitution then suggested, almost as an aside:
"Perhaps it should also be known as 'Washington's Apple Pi' to be kinder to typists and computer character sets…"
— since ][ is hard to type on most terminals. The "Pi" variant stuck. By the April 1979 issue the masthead reads WASHINGTON APPLE PI.
How Pi has treated it
- 1979-03 — V01 N02 (Mar 1979) — Genevie Urban's motion to call it "Washington's Apple ][" passed; John Moon's letter introduced the "Pi" variant
- 1979-04 — V01 N03 (Apr 1979) — masthead reads "WASHINGTON APPLE PI"