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    And the tmp part is for 'temp'? I'm seriously asking. Commented May 29, 2017 at 21:19
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    No idea, I searched a bit but could not find anything. utmp of course has fleeting, temporary, information and was the initial file available, but I have no confirmation that that might be the origin of that name part. You should post that as a new question. Commented May 29, 2017 at 22:58
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    Does it possible 'w' come from 'when'? Because wtmp records when user logged in and logged out. Commented Jan 12, 2021 at 3:14
  • Seeing as who only looks in utmp, and has nothing to do with wtmp, it seems implausible that their names are connected. Commented Nov 16 at 13:10
  • @bitofagoob tmp was very commonly used in Unix systems as an abbreviation for temporary; the more obvious example is the /tmp directory. (Elsewhere temp is the more common abbreviation for the same thing.) Commented Nov 16 at 13:12