The sobriquet "Pierson's" comes from the name of the human who made first contact in the early 26th century in the "Known Space" timeline. According to the Niven story "The Soft Weapon", Pierson was a crewman aboard a spaceship at a time when there was a camp revival of the ancient "Time for Beany" TV show featuring Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent, an animated character based on a hand puppet; Pierson accordingly described the alien he had met as a Puppeteer, given some resemblance of the head and neck with Cecil. Puppeteers dealing with humans usually give themselves the names of centaurs and other figures in Greek mythology, such as Nessus, Nike and Chiron. Puppeteers' names for themselves are reportedly highly complex, and unpronounceable by humans. The group name they use for their own species translates as "Citizens".