Story Behind The Names of 10 Big Companies

1.   Google

The most successful search engine in the world, Google, got its name from the term “Googol”. Googol means 10 raised to the power 100, i.e. (10)¹⁰⁰ . You might be wondering why this term was used to derive the name “Google”. It’s because the people behind naming it were joking around that Google could give “googol” number of search results in few seconds. This led them to actually name the website as “Google”.

2.   Apple

Well, it had been quite a while since Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had been thinking of a suitable name for their partnership when the name “Apple” popped up in Steve Jobs’ head. The idea of this name popped into his head as he had been working in an apple orchard for some time. The name sounded fun and different to them and moreover they were not able to think of any other great technical name, so they finally came up with the name “Apple”.

3.   Hotmail

The founders of Hotmail, Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith were searching for a suitable name for their e-mail service that ended with the word “mail”. They finally decided to name it “Hotmail” because the word contained the letters html, which is the language that was used to create hotmail.

4.   ASUS

This Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics company got its name from the winged horse “Pegasus” in Greek mythology. The company was named so because Pegasus symbolizes knowledge, glory, inspiration and creativity. The name ASUS gives an impression that products delivering quality and innovation are manufactured by the company.

5.   Coca-Cola

Dr. Pemberton invented Coca-Cola on 8^th may 1886. His book keeper Frank M Robinson suggested the name for his invention and also came up with a logo for it. Because of the use of Coca leaves and Kola nuts in preparation of the drink, the name was decided to be “Coca-Cola”. Pemberton approved the name and logo and so his product was named “Coca-Cola”.

6.   Canon

Canon was found in 1933 and was first known as Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory. It was named ‘Kwanon’ when they started manufacturing cameras. Kwanon is the name of the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Soon the name was changed to ‘Canon’ because the company decided to expand their business worldwide and wanted an acceptable name for the worldwide market.

7.   Lego

Lego was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen. The name Lego was derived from the Danish words “leg godt” which means ‘play well’. Lego also means ‘I put together’, which came out to be a coincident.

8.   Reebok

Reebok was named in 1958 by Joe and Jeff Foster. They found the name “Reebok” from a South African dictionary won by Joe Foster in his childhood. Rhebok is the name of an African antelope which gave rise to the name ‘Reebok’.

9.   Adidas

Adolf Dassler named his company ‘Adidas’ in 1949, after his nick name Adi and his last name Dassler. The words Adi and Dassler lead to the name ‘Adidas’.

10.   Six Apart

This company was found in 2001 by Ben Trott and Mena Trott. The name was interestingly based on the age difference between Ben and Mena i.e. 6 days.  

Interesting! right? There is a great story behind the name of almost every great organisation or company indeed!