There's also getElement function from base R.
the_list <- list("a" = 1, "b" = 2, "c" = 3)
getElement(the_list, "a")
#> [1] 1
But it's no surprise some people don't know about getElement. Base R has soooo many functions, and this one's only useful for passing as an argument to lapply or similar. Even then, I prefer to pass "[[" (which is a function). Less characters and anyone who's used R for a month knows how it works.
big_list <- list(c(a = 1, b = 2, c = 3), c(a = "A", b = "B", c = "C"))
lapply(big_list, getElement, "a")
#> [[1]]
#> [1] 1
#>
#> [[2]]
#> [1] "A"
lapply(big_list, "[[", "a")
#> [[1]]
#> [1] 1
#>
#> [[2]]
#> [1] "A"