Is there any authoritative documentation on R release nicknames?

Question

Somewhere after R 2.1.0, I started noticing short phrases next to the R release number that is displayed on start up. This turns out to be a release nickname, an undocumented component added to the R.Version variable, accessible with R.Version$nickname.

The archives of R-announce show Peter Dalgaard announcing a new release's nickname on several occasions (e.g., here) but I don't find any other information. Despite being a list element of the object queried by R.Version(), it is not included in help file for that function.

Is there any documentation on this feature? Ideally I'd like a statement of the system used to determine a release's nickname, but any authoritative reference would be great.

Answer 1

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
• 4.2.2 (2022-10-31) Innocent and Trusting

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

Answer 2

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:

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)

(World Famous Astronaut)

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?

Answer 3

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):

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