We come across one or the other brand on a daily basis and still, we never think as to why they have such unusual names. Honestly how many of us give it a thought that why ‘Google’ is google and not something else? I would say only 5% of the lots have the curiosity to know.
Well, we have always been told by our elders that ‘nothing happens without a reason’. There is always a reason behind everything. Similarly, there are some real life stories behind the quirky names of the top brands of the world.
Just check them out and calm your curiosity.
1. Virgin
One of the founders of Virgin is Richard Branson. One day Richard’s colleague mentioned this name and said that “We are complete virgins at the business.” And that’s how the company got its name ‘Virgin’.
2. Reebok
It came from the word ‘rhebok’ which in Dutch/African is used for a type of Antelope. This word is meant to evoke speed and grace which are also the core objectives of this company.
3. Skype
Skype is cut out from the phrase ‘Sky Peer to Peer’ to ‘Skyper’. At the end, ‘r’ was removed from ‘Skyper’ to make it easy to pronounce.
4. Starbucks
This famous coffee brand took its name after Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”. There was a character named ‘Starbucks’ in his book. The name was taken in the hopes of eliciting the romance of high seas and the seafaring tradition of coffee traders from ancient times.
5. Blackberry
The name was taken up in 1999 because the keys of the mobile set resembled the duplets of ‘Blackberry’ fruit.
6. Yahoo
Yahoo was taken from an imaginary species from Gulliver’s Travels who was rude, noisy and violent. It is also an acronym for ‘Yet Another Hierarchial Officious Oracle’.
7. Canon
Canon was originally called as ‘Kwanon’ in reference to a Buddhist Goddess. Later on, it was changed to just ‘Canon’.
8. Google
The most famous search engine of the world derived its name from ‘Googol’ which is also the mathematical term for 10∧20.
9. Lego
Lego was derived from a Danish word ‘Leg Godt’ also referred as ‘Play Well’.
10. Amazon
Jeff Bezos wanted the name of the company to be alphabetic and that’s why the name starts with an ‘A’. Amazon was given the name after the world’s biggest river amazon. He wished that his company will be the biggest online market in the world which it surely has become now.
11. Pepsi
This soft drink is named after a digestive enzyme named as ‘pepsin’ which is also one of the major ingredients of this drink.
12. Haagen-Dazs
This name was chosen with the hope that it will sound Danish and will convey the aura of old world tradition and craftsmanship. But other than that there is no specific meaning to the name.
13. Ikea
Each and every letter in ‘IKEA’ means a lot. The first two letter ‘I’ and ‘K’ are actually the initials of the name of the founder ‘Ingvar Kamprad’. As for ‘E’ and ‘A’ they are the first letters of ‘Elymtyard’ and ‘Agunnyard’. These are the name of the farms where he grew up.
14. Kinko’s
‘Kinko’s’ was actually the name given by the founder himself. It is after his nickname that he earned in his college days because of his curly hair.
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