Comment by terminado

Fun fact: according to unsubstantiated UNIX lore, "rm" is NOT short-hand for "remove" but rather, it stands for the initials of the developer that wrote the original implementation, Robert Morris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morris_(cryptographer)

I have no proof of this, but through oral tradition, such a tale has been relayed to me. Believe whatever you will.