23 Incredible Stories Behind The Names Of The World’s Most Successful Companies

In the words of Shakespeare, “What is in a name?” These successful companies can contribute a portion of their success to their unique and interesting names. However, many of the names came about by accident, or changed over time to reflect the company differently. How many of these origin stories did you know?

Google

Initially a joke, founders Page and Brin used the word googol to express how much information their search engine could access, a googol being the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes. One of their first investors made a check out to “Google” and the rest is history!

Yahoo!

Founders Yang and Filo thought of themselves as “yahoos” and decided to go with it. The word has been around for awhile however, originating in “Gulliver’s Travels” as the name of a primitive humanoid race.

Lego

The Latin term ‘lego’ translates in English to “I put together.” However, that is NOT where the name came from and the company claims that it is just a coincidence, albeit a fortunate one in their case. The name actually comes from the Danish phrase ‘leg godt’ which translates to “play well” as the company is Danish.

Skype

As is the case with many names, they can shorten over time and with use. The original idea for the online communication service was “Sky Peer-To-Peer” which quickly shortened to “Skyper” and eventually simply “Skype.” This company has revolutionized the way individuals communicate with others across the globe, making face-to-face conversation possible from opposite sides of the Earth.

Twitter

The name came when the name ‘Twitch’ was rejected, so co-founder Jack Dorsey stated that they “looked in the dictionary for words around it and we came across the word ‘twitter’ and it was just perfect.” He went on to explain how the definitions for the word matched almost perfectly with what the project provided: short bursts of information and chirps from birds.

Coca-Cola

This legendary US original was literally named for selected ingredients: coca leaves and kola nuts. Kola was later altered to ‘cola’ for the alliterative effect.

Pepsi

Interestingly enough, Pepsi is named for the digestive enzyme pepsin. The fact that it also gives the drinker some extra “pep” certainly did not hurt the marketing of the product. So next time you are enjoying a refreshing Pepsi-cola, think of the peppy party occurring in your stomach as pepsin works to digest out the carbonated beverage!

Samsonite

“I was way off!” Originally named after founder Jesse Shwayder, the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company prided itself on the durability of their products. When a specific product line named for Biblical strong-man Samson did well, the name Samsonite became far more recognizable and the company eventually noticed and rebranded.

eBay

The original name of the company was “Echo Bay Technology Group” but seeing as Echo Bay Mines Limited had already nabbed the “coveted” echobay.com domain, founder Pierre Omidyar settled for “ebay.com” in its stead and the rest is history.

Apple

Founder and CEO Steve Jobs once worked at an apple orchard, and to separate his company from other tech companies of the time, he chose the name “Apple” as a more appealing and user-friendly name.

Kodak

It is reported that company founder George Eastman wanted a name that would not be mispronounced and ultimately contained the letter “K”. He believed the letter to pack a punch that would assist with name recognition, and he just really liked the letter. In the end, he settled on “Kodak”, a company that has endured for over 125 years, navigating and surviving the digital switchover.

Hotmail

When Bahatia and Smith were choosing a name for their web-based email service, they settled on “hotmail” as it can be derived from the letters “h-t-m-l” as the platform was written using html code.

IKEA

If you have a home, there is a good chance that there is at least one piece of IKEA furniture somewhere in the home. While the name seems exotic, it–like many other company’s names–is simply an acronym. In this case, it is the combined initials of the founder and the location where he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad who grew up on  Elmtaryd in Agunnaryd.

PEZ

This famous Austrian candy and candy dispenser company roots its name to the German word “pfefferminz” meaning “peppermint.” The name can be found by taking the first, middle, and last letter of pfefferminz and has been a collectors item ever since.

Nike

While no one has probably ever asked “which came first,” it is true that the brand’s connection with the ‘swoosh’ actually predates the name “Nike.” When the company–then named Blue Ribbon Sports–was promoting a new shoe called the swoosh, they chose to channel the ancients and discovered that the Greek Goddess of victory was named Nike. They loved the name so much that they rebranded in 1978 to officially change their name to “Nike.”

Pixar

As a computer animation company, the company chose to go with a name that related to their work. Officially, the name combines the word ‘pixel’ with the initials of co-founder Alvy Ray Smith. In addition, the name is similar to the abbreviation pixarr which is used to describe a “pixel array” in the business. Some found it humerus that since it ends with ‘ar’ it “looks” like a Spanish verb, and it jokingly stated that the company name translates into “to pix.”

GEICO

As many guessed, GEICO is simply an acronym for the company’s complete name: Government Employees Insurance Company. Initially, the decision was made to insure only federal employees as founder Leo Goodwin Sr. and his wife thought this would be a less risky market overall. However, in 1974 the company began insuring the general public as well, and thus the name “GEICO” became a more useful title.

Six Apart

Ben and Mena Trott co-founded the company and named it for the fact that the two were born only six days apart in the year 1977. The couple has since divorced, but both still hold ties to the company.

Virgin Records

According to founder Richard Branson’s biography, the name came from an employee that suggested they name the company ‘Virgin’ because they were virgins to business. The name stuck and went on to turn Branson into a billionaire.

HP

So clearly the company name comes from the names of founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. What is lesser known is that the two flipped a coin to determine whose name would appear first. Can you guess who won?

Asus

This company can trace its etymology all the way back to ancient Greece as the company is named for the flying mythical creature Pegasus. They opted to drop the first half of the name so that they would appear closer to the top of alphabetical company lists.

Häagen-Dazs

It has absolutely no meaning what-so-ever. Bronx entrepreneurs Reuben and Rose Mattus invented the name to stand out due to its international sounding name. That’s not stopping Bradley Cooper from partaking.

Nabisco

The name developed over the years from its original more lengthy name, “The National Biscuit Company,” Nabisco is much catchier, don’t you think?