--- description: The first daily 'Peanuts' comic ran 65 years ago, on Oct. 2, 1950 title: 'Peanuts' Creator Charles Schulz Didn't Like the Classic Comic's Name image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt262a0a8aab9bb9e0/6986a6041eebf70041372ec1/peanuts.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Media](/tag/media/) ## Media Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Peanuts_ Creator Charles Schulz Didn't Like the Classic Comic's Name  by [Merrill Fabry](/author/merrill-fabry/)  ## Merrill Fabry Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 1, 2015 3:00 PM CUT  The April 9, 1965, cover of TIME The April 9, 1965, cover of TIMETIME  by [Merrill Fabry](/author/merrill-fabry/)  ## Merrill Fabry Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 1, 2015 3:00 PM CUT When first daily _Peanuts_ comic ran on Oct. 2, 1950—exactly 65 years ago this Friday—its creator, Charles M. Schulz, had plenty to be happy about. But not everything was sunny: he didn’t like the name that had been given to his creation. Schulz had previously published a cartoon called _Li’l Folks_, which included forerunners of the Peanuts characters, and didn’t want to change the name. Schulz told TIME in 1965, when the magazine ran a cover story about Charlie Brown’s place in American culture, “I wanted to keep Li’l Folks. I wanted a strip with dignity and significance. ‘Peanuts’ made it sound too insignificant.” So how did _Peanuts_ get its name? Schulz was working as an art teacher at a Minneapolis art school when he sold his first cartoon in 1948 to the _Saturday Evening Post_. _Li’l Folks_ came soon after, in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which ran the strip anywhere the editor had space to put it. He stopped drawing it after a year, because the editor wouldn’t give him more money or a regular spot. At that point, Schulz, still working as an art teacher, pursued comic syndication contracts and was rejected from a number of services. In 1950 United Feature Syndicate accepted Schulz’s _Li’l Folks_. But before it could be published, the syndicate wanted to change the name. Al Capp’s strip _Li’l Abner_ had [premiered in 1934 and ran until 1977](http://lil-abner.com/ "undefined"), and Tack Knight’s _Little Folks_ comic ran in the 1930s, so Schulz’s title raised concerns over copyright infringement. A syndicate editor chose the name _Peanuts_, despite Schulz’s protests. The syndicate initially ran the comic strip in seven papers across the U.S., according the [Charles M. Schulz Museum](https://schulzmuseum.org/timeline/#!/1950 "undefined")—adding that, even many years after the death of _Li’l Folks_, Schulz remained displeased at its new name. Even so, he didn’t let the name get in the way: Schulz would continue to work on _Peanuts_ for the rest of his life. **_Read more about Charles Schulz and Peanuts, here in the TIME Vault_**: [Good Grief](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-04-09/page/88/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4056694/charles-schulz-peanuts-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4056694/charles-schulz-peanuts-anniversary/"},"headline":"Peanuts Creator Charles Schulz Didn't Like the Classic Comic's Name","datePublished":"2015-10-01T15:00:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:25:00.002Z","description":"Charlie Brown and Snoopy are turning 65","url":"https://time.com/4056694/charles-schulz-peanuts-anniversary/","keywords":["Media","Pop Culture","Art","Peanuts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt262a0a8aab9bb9e0/6986a6041eebf70041372ec1/peanuts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Merrill Fabry","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/merrill-fabry/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt262a0a8aab9bb9e0/6986a6041eebf70041372ec1/peanuts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Peanuts Cover","caption":"Peanuts Cover","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4056694/charles-schulz-peanuts-anniversary/","name":"Peanuts Creator Charles Schulz Didn't Like the Classic Comic's Name"}}]}] ```