I haven't come across any "official" explanation. I've found nothing about
this on Microchip's site, What does PIC really stand for?

According to Mike Hall it stands for "Programmable Interrupt
Controller":


http://www.jamesrusso.com/stamp/archive/1998/stamps.9802/msg00390.html

According to John Wynne it stands for: "Programmable Integrated Circuit":

        http://www.wavelen.com/~jkeyzer/handy/2000/Apr/0039.html

According to Kieran McCormick PIC stands for "Programmable Integrated
Controller":


http://mwd.ee.qub.ac.uk/DataSheet/Down_Load/Microchip%20PICs/PICGUIDE.PDF

According to Synchro Systems (et al.) it stands for "Peripheral Interface
Controller":

        http://www.synchro-systems.com/PicInfo.htm

According to Tim Forcer (et al.) it stands for "Programmable Interface
Controller":

        http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~tmf/pic.htm

According to Richard Ottosen it stands for "Programmable Intelligent
Computer":

        http://www.idcomm.com/personal/ottosen/

USPAT. & TRADEMARK OFFICE web page only tells that PICmicro
is a registered trademark.

Pekka Siiskonen

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