The Shocking Secrets Behind Tech Company Names Are Finally Revealed
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Amazon
It turns out that Amazon wasn't the original name of the company. Jeff Bezos wanted to use many different names, including "Cadabra" and "Relentless." Eventually, Bezos and his team realized that this wasn't such a good idea, so they searched for a name that would come across in a nice away. Eventually, they settled on Amazon, as a reference to the Amazon River in South America. It was a good thing they picked the correct name.
Amazon
It turns out that Amazon wasn't the original name of the company. Jeff Bezos wanted to use many different names, including "Cadabra" and "Relentless." Eventually, Bezos and his team realized that this wasn't such a good idea, so they searched for a name that would come across in a nice away. Eventually, they settled on Amazon, as a reference to the Amazon River in South America. It was a good thing they picked the correct name.
Alibaba
Alibaba may have started in China, but the origin of the name goes back to the Middle East. Founder Jack Ma decided to name his company after the story of Ali Baba, which is based out of Arabic culture. The reason he picked this name was because of the famous line from the story, "Open sesame." With a positive reference like that, Jack Ma realized that he had picked the right name for his new company.
Bluetooth
The origin of the name for Bluetooth is a bit odd. In the 10th century, Harald Bluetooth was the king of Denmark. He was famous for two things: uniting Scandinavia and his endless love for blueberries. The king ate so many blueberries that his teeth reportedly looked blue. The founders of the company wanted to be known for uniting different elements of the tech world, so they decided to pick this name for the company.
Microsoft
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded their company in the 1970s, when they were only in their early 20s. While they were very knowledgeable when it came to technology, they weren't so good at the branding side of it. They needed to develop a name for the company, but they couldn't think of anything good. Gates and Allen decided to use a mixture of the words "microprocessor" and "software," and the name Microsoft was born.
Verizon
To come up with the name for Verizon, the founders decided to use a lesser known — but important — language: Latin. Some people say that it is a dead language, but Verizon proved them wrong by incorporating Latin into their name. Specifically, they decided to focus on two Latin words: "veritas," which means "truth," and "horizon," which refers to the line at which the earth's surface meets the sky. If you put the two words together, you get Verizon.
Skype
Skype was not the original name for this important tech company. Instead, the company wanted to use the name Skyper. This word was a combination of "sky" (like the saying of "the sky's the limit") and "peer-to-peer." There was only one problem: another company already took the name. As a result, the founders decided to use the name Skype instead. It has all worked out because Skype has emerged as one of the top tech companies.
Zynga
Zynga produces some of the most popular mobile games out there. However, the name of this company was originally going to be something completely different. Founder Mark Pincus originally called his company Presidio Media when it started in April 2007. Three months later, he finally decided to change the name to Zynga, which was the name of his dog. This makes perfect sense because the logo for Zynga is a dog, and most gamers probably don't know why that is the logo.
Imagine having a social media network that's called Twitch? That nearly happened because the founders of Twitter wanted to call their company Twitch. This was a reference to a phone twitching when it receives a message. Eventually, the name Twitch was deemed to be odd. The founders considered calling their company twttr, which is a reference to how Flickr set up their name. They eventually settled on Twitter, which is a reference to birds chirping.
Napster
From 1999 to 2001, Napster changed the way that people listen to music. The name of it was also a mystery for a long time. Founder Shawn Fanning eventually came clean about the name. Most people assume it is a reference to taking naps, but Fanning says that is was a reference to the nappy state of his hair after playing basketball. It is an odd origin for the name, but it is very memorable.
LG
Most people know that LG is an acronym, but they aren't really sure what for. LG was formed as a tech company in the late '50s after the Korean War. It was originally called Goldstar and they specialized in consumer electronics. Goldstar also had a sister company called Lak-Hui. This is where the two words for LG came from. In the '90s, the company was renamed as LG. This was done to build a global brand for the products.
Flickr
Most people can guess where the origin of the name Flickr came from. Obviously, the company was named Flicker. There was just one big problem: someone else already owned the Flicker.com domain, and to add insult to injury, the owners of Flicker.com had no intentions of selling the domain. However, the name flickr.com was available, so the founders renamed the company to Flickr. Although this was a misspelled word, most users didn't seem to care.
Spotify
Some people believe that Spotify's name is a combination of the words "spot" and "identify." However, this is not true. Some people also assume that the name is Swedish because the company was founded in Sweden. Again, this is wrong. The name is actually pretty random. The founders were brainstorming names, and that's when it was developed. They noticed that the web domain was available, so they decided to pick the name Spotify for the company.
eBay
The original name for eBay was AuctionWeb. However, founder Pierre Omidyar wanted to change the name as the website took off. He decided to rename it after his other company, the Echo Bay Technology Group. Thus the name eBay was born. Most people assume that the "e" in eBay is a reference to word "electronic" just like with email, but it actually turns out that the "e" in eBay is a reference to the word "echo" instead.
Yahoo
Most people assume that Yahoo's name is a reference to the definition of the word, which is a rude noise or violent person, but that is not true. First, the company was originally called Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web, but that name was too long. The founders renamed their company as Yahoo, which is an acronym that stands for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. It was a good thing they shortened the name.
It turns out that Google wasn't the original name of this tech company. At first, the founders actually toyed with calling the company BackRub. However, that name didn't sound too pleasant. So they first changed the name to Googol, which the name for 1 x 10^100. After that, the name changed to Google, which is what it is called today. This is a misspelled version of "Googol," but it is spelled in a more pleasant way.
Mozilla Firefox
Before becoming a major web browser, the founders of Mozilla had to develop a name first. This was not an easy take for a group of engineers. Eventually, they settled on "Mozilla" because it was a combination of two things. First, it was a combination of the word "mosaic" that refers to a colorful picture. The other word that inspired them was "Godzilla," like the movie monster. Thus the name Mozilla was born from those two words.
Etsy
Etsy might sound like the oddest name ever for a tech company, but there is actually a meaningful story behind it. Founder Rob Kalin was watching the classic film 8 1/2 when he kept hearing the word "etsi," which is Italian for "oh yes." Kalin liked the word so much that he decided to use it as the name for the company. He eventually settled on Etsy as the name, and that's how it all started.
Lenovo
Lenovo is a great name for a tech company, but the original name was actually the Chinese Academy of Sciences Computer Technology Research Institute New Technology Development Company. Since that is way too long, they shortened the name to Legend. In 2003, they changed the name again by focusing on a combination of two words: "Le" and "Novo "(which means "new" in Latin). That is how the name Lenovo was born. It was good thing they didn't stick to the original name of the company.
Samsung
If you can speak Korean, then you probably already know the meaning behind the name Samsung. If you don't know the language, then the name might be a mystery to you. Samsung began in Korea in 1938 as a small trading company. The name Samsung is a Korean word that means "three stars." In turn, there are three virtues that the company follows: big, numerous, and powerful. Thus the name is symbolic of those three virtues.
Apple
There are two reasons why Steve Jobs picked Apple as the company's name. First, he liked eating apples, but the real reason was because of his former employer and rival: Atari. Jobs wanted to get ahead of Atari in the phonebook. Back in the day, before the internet, people used the phonebook to reach companies. Since Apple is before Atari in the alphabet, Jobs decided that Apple would be the perfect name for his new company.
