`  The first reference that I could find (there are lots later) that says that Tux is definitely male comes in this comment from Linus (most of the time he's been saying ``it`` - but here, for the first time that I can find, he calls the penguin a ``he``):  : ``Ooh, what a cuddly penguin, I bet he is just _stuffed_ with herring``, and small children will jump up and down and scream ``mommy mommy, can I have one too?``.  That dates back to an extremely famous email entitled: ``Re: Linux Logo prototype.`` from Linus Torvalds (torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi) - dated: Thu, 9 May 1996 17:48:56 +0300 (EET DST) - from the Linux kernel mailing list - which you can find archived here:  http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9605/0855.html - you can find many, MANY mentions of the penguin with male gender language later...but this is probably the first.     `