I recall hearing conjecture that cc was already a routine, and that "copy and convert" became dd as a result in a really old system that may have been pre-unix.

I recall hearing conjecture that cc was already a routine, and that "copy and convert" became dd as a result in a really old system that may have been pre-unix. Researching, it appears that there are multiple attributions, because it's just that obvious and necessary a routine. https://www2.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/unix_course/intro-98.html https://www2.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/unix_course/intro-98.html https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/6804/what-does-dd-stand-for https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/6804/what-does-dd-s... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix)