Listeria monocytogenes (formerly Bacterium monocytogenes) was first isolated in 1926 by Everitt Murray. The organism was renamed Listeria monocytogenes in 1940 in honor of Joseph Lister. Initially described as a bacteria of laboratory animals, the first human cases were described in 1929 by Nyfeldt in Denmark.

• Listeria monocytogenes is thought to had been identified by Hulphers in histologic sections before World War I in Sweden.^[2]
• In 1926, Listeria monocytogenes was first isolated from rabbits by the bacteriologist Everitt George Dunne Murray following an outbreak in laboratory animals.^[3][4]
• Murray named the organism Bacterium monocytogenes. Murray’s culture is the oldest well-preserved culture of the bacteria and is kept at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.^[3][4]
• In 1929, the first human cases of Listeria infection were reported in Denmark by Nyfeldt. At the time, he associated infectious mononucleosis to listeriosis, claiming that the bacteria was the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis. However, this hypothesis was not proven.^[2][3]
• Listeria was later renamed Listerlla monocytogenes and finally Listeria monocytogenes in 1940 to honor Joseph Lister, the British scientist who discovered that sterilizing surgical instruments before operations is associated with reduced risk of infections.^[5]
• In 1934, Burn first established a connection between Listeria monocytogenes and neonatal granulomatous septicemia.