Rumoredly named so by his sister
Lucy Van Pelt because of his great similarity and hence redundancy to
Linus Van Pelt.
Not much is known about the youngest kid of the three Van Pelt kids in Peanuts. He looks exactly like Linus but is smaller and doesn't have a blanket.
Of all the peanuts strips I have read I remember only one with Rerun on it and has him saying something. It was when he was riding with his mom on a bicycle and he was saying something about how that scared him. It was not even "say" but more like "thought" because iirc Schultz used thought balloons. I think he was made to ride in the basket in the back that's why.
Master Villain says there was a series of
Rerun strips, Rerun hated the
ride because he was on the seat at the back, and a
dog chased him, and he felt he had to make it stop by throwing his
shoes.
From the official peanuts site:
Rerun Van Pelt is often mistaken for Linus even though he's his little brother. He can always be recognized in his trademark overalls. Rerun is more skeptical than his brother, much harder to convince, and always gets around Lucy where Linus gives in. His only fear is being the passenger on one of his mother's bicycle-riding errands. Somehow, Rerun is the only witness to her riding into grates and potholes. Luckily, he always wears a helmet. Rerun also longs for a dog of his own, but since his parent won't let him have one, he tries to "borrow" Snoopy from Charlie Brown. Snoopy won't have any part of it unless Rerun brings cookies.