I've noticed 10 and 12 yo use Old RIP Van Winkle name on the bottles while 15+yo use PAPPY Van Winkle Family Reserve. Any meaning to that short of "marketing" ?
Pappy got the recipe along with the distillers who developed it when he put together a group of investors to purchase the Stitzel-Weller distillery. A.P. Stitzel may have been using wheat in his Bourbon recipe as early as the 1870s but it was Pappy's group who made it famous.
Rip Van Winkle is the name of the company. There expression, "Old Rip Van Winkle" is their 10 year old expression. Pappy Van Winkle is their 15, 20 and 23 year old expressions.
Back when the Van Winkle family owned the Stitzel-Weller distillery they created the Old Rip Van Winkle label and kept the brand name when they sold the place.