The seven founding members of the Hydra Project photographed during the period of their first meeting at the University of Virginia in September 2008. Left to right and Ross Wayland (UVA), Thornton (Thorny) Staples (Fedora), Tom Cramer (Stanford), Lynn McRae (Stanford), Tim Sigmon (UVA), Chris Awre (Hull), and Richard Green (Hull).
The team that founded the Hydra Project met several times in the fall of 2008 at the University of Virginia. At their meeting in December of that year the name 'Hydra' was coined. Later that same day, a hydra toy was spotted, and subsequently purchased, in a local shop - this became part of the first design used on the project's documents and presentations.