Ever wonder why the ‘ferris wheel’ is called ‘ferris wheel’? Or how diesel engine got its name? And what does Levi’s means?
Namesakes! Well, some of you know but some might not. But for those who don’t know, the word ‘Ferris Wheel’ came from the name of the civil engineer who created it named George Washington Gale Ferris; and the ‘diesel engine’ was designed by the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, while the name ‘Levi’s’ came from a Bavarian immigrant and manufacturer Levi Strauss.
These are just some of the name origins I know which I learned when I was in college from my book ‘Namesakes’ which was written by Tad Tuleja. Obviously, we know very little about the names we’re hearing every now and then. But those famous companies we know so much about because of their products also have something in secret: Where do they got their names?
Curious? Here are the origins of names of 39 of the most companies in the World. You’ll be surprise to know these truths, like I did!
1. 7-Eleven
7-Eleven was renamed from “U-Tote’m” in 1946 to reflect their newly extended hours, 7:00 am until 11:00 pm. Although most are now open 24/7, they stuck with the name.
2. Amazon
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos renamed the company from the earlier name of Cadabra.com after the world’s most voluminous river, the Amazon.
3. Adobe
Adobe is from the Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of co-founder John Warnock.
4. Apple
Apple is for the favorite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and/or for the time he worked at an apple orchard. It was also meant to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by other computer companies at the time.
5. 3M
3M is from the company’s original name, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.
6. Aflac
Aflac is from the company’s previous name of American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (which remains the legal name of their underwriting subsidiary).
7. AMC Theaters
AMC Theatres is from American Multi-Cinema and they pioneered multi-screen cinemas.
8. AMD
AMD is from Advanced Micro Devices.
9. Arby’s
Arby’s is the enunciation of the initials of its founders, the Raffel Brothers.
10. ASICS
ASICS is an acronym for Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, which means “Healthy soul in a healthy body” in Latin.
11. SEGA
Sega comes from SErvice GAmes of Japan and was founded by Marty Bromley (an American) to import pinball games to Japan for use on American military bases.
12. Google
Google was originally accidental misspelling of the number googol and settled upon because google.com was unregistered. Googol is pronounced the same way and is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. It was proposed to reflect the company’s mission to organize the immense amount of information available online.
13. AT&T
AT&T was the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation and they officially changed their name to AT&T in the 1990s.
14. BIC
BIC Corporation was named after one of its founders, Marcel Bich. He dropped the H to avoid a potentially inappropriate English pronunciation of the name.
15. CISCO
Cisco is short for San Francisco.
16. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the K of kola to C to make the name look better.
17. eBay
eBay founder Pierre Omidyar had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. He reportedly said. Echo Bay Mines Limited, a gold mining company, had already taken EchoBay.com, so Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com.
18. EPSON
Epson was named from “Son of Electronic Printer.”
19. Wendy’s
Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas’ daughter was named Melinda, but Wendy was her nickname.
20. GEICO
GEICO is an acronym of Government Employees Insurance Company.
21. Haagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs was made up in 1961 by the founders and has no meaning.
22. IKEA
IKEA is a composite of the first letters in the Swedish founder Ingvar Kamprad’s name in addition to the first letters of the names of the property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.
23. LEGO
Lego is a combination of the Danish “leg godt”, which means to “play well.” Lego also means “I put together” in Latin, but the company claims this is only a coincidence.
24. LG
LG is not from “Life’s good” but is from the combination of two popular Korean brands, Lucky and Goldstar.
25. Microsoft
Microsoft was originally Micro-Soft and the name was coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTtware.
26. Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi has two parts: mitsu means three and hishi (which is pronounced bishi when at the end of a word) means diamond (the shape). Hence, the three diamond logo.
27. Nabisco
Nabisco was formerly The National Biscuit Company, and was changed in 1971 to Nabisco.
28. NIKE
Nike is named after the Greek goddess of victory.
29. PEPSI
Pepsi gets its name from the digestive enzyme pepsin. It originally was marketed as a healthy drink that would aid in digestion.
30. QVC
QVC is from Quality, Value, and Convenience.
31. Reebok
Reebok is an alternate spelling of rhebok, an African antelope.
32. Samsung
Samsung means “three stars” in Korean.
33. VOLVO
Volvo is Latin for “I roll.”
34. Samsonite
Samsonite got it’s name from the Biblical character Samson, renowned for his strength.
35. SHARP
Sharp was named after one of their first products, an ever-sharp pencil.
36. SONY
Sony is from the Latin word “sonus” meaning sound.
37. Sprint
Sprint is from its parent company, Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal Communications. At the time, pipelines and railroad tracks were the cheapest place to lay communications lines, as the right-of-way was already leased or owned.
38. Starbucks
Starbucks is named after Starbuck, a character in the novel Moby-Dick.
39. Volkswagen
Volkswagen is German for “people’s car.”
Source Credit: Distractify