diff --git a/NOTICE b/NOTICE
index a71e1c3e4..9151a23b0 100644
--- a/NOTICE
+++ b/NOTICE
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-PPVM - Pauli Propagation and Virtual Machine
+PPVM - Programmable Pauli Virtual Machine
 Copyright 2026 The PPVM Authors.
 
 This product was initially developed at QuEra Computing Inc.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 227eaf60f..2bf25fd17 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Pauli Propagation Virtual Machine
+# Programmable Pauli Virtual Machine
 
 A fast quantum circuit simulator written in Rust, with Python bindings.
 
diff --git a/crates/ppvm-cli/README.md b/crates/ppvm-cli/README.md
index d5138403e..6fcb7c8a3 100644
--- a/crates/ppvm-cli/README.md
+++ b/crates/ppvm-cli/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # ppvm-cli
 
-Command-line front-end for the Pauli-propagation virtual machine. Parses,
+Command-line front-end for the Programmable Pauli Virtual Machine. Parses,
 dumps, runs, and steps through `.sst` programs (and their compiled `.ssb`
 bytecode).
 
diff --git a/crates/ppvm-cli/src/main.rs b/crates/ppvm-cli/src/main.rs
index 2d8062b97..a11098143 100644
--- a/crates/ppvm-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/ppvm-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ mod tui;
 
 #[derive(Parser)]
 #[command(name = "ppvm")]
-#[command(about = "Pauli propagation virtual machine", long_about = None)]
+#[command(about = "Programmable Pauli Virtual Machine", long_about = None)]
 pub struct Cli {
     /// Number of threads for all parallel work (1 = fully serial & deterministic)
     #[arg(short, long, global = true, default_value_t = 1, value_parser = clap::builder::RangedU64ValueParser::<usize>::new().range(1..))]
diff --git a/ppvm-python/README.md b/ppvm-python/README.md
index f3723572d..d82402362 100644
--- a/ppvm-python/README.md
+++ b/ppvm-python/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # ppvm (Python)
 
-**ppvm** (Pauli Propagation and Virtual Machine) is a fast quantum circuit simulator with Python bindings backed by a high-performance Rust core.
+**ppvm** (Programmable Pauli Virtual Machine) is a fast quantum circuit simulator with Python bindings backed by a high-performance Rust core.
 
 ## Installation