The name of one of Peanuts’ best-known characters came from Charles M. Schulz’s friendship with fellow cartoonist Linus Maurer. Schulz recalled the story in a book marking the comic strip’s 50th anniversary: Maurer was the first person he showed an early sketch of the character who would become Linus van Pelt.
Schulz had been experimenting with different hairstyles for the character and was not yet settled on the design. Maurer, a former classmate at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, saw the sketch, and Schulz decided it made sense to name the character after his friend. The two later worked together at Art Instruction Schools Inc. in Minneapolis.
Maurer created several comic strips, including Old Harrigan of Sleepy Eye, Abracadabra and In the Beginning, and designed the newspaper math puzzle Challenger. A Peanuts strip published on April 30, 1957, also appears to refer to Maurer’s work: Charlie Brown comments on Linus drawing characters with their arms behind their backs, a pose often seen in Old Harrigan.
Schulz and Maurer remained friends and continued meeting for coffee until Schulz’s death in 2000. Maurer died in 2016. In Peanuts, Linus van Pelt became known for his security blanket and for acting as a thoughtful voice of reason, often supporting Charlie Brown through difficult moments.
Sources: Comic Book Resources.