some companies have gone a less-traditional route and used Some pretty unique names. Here are some examples of interesting company names and the backstories behind them.
Anyone who's ever had to form a company can sympathize with how difficult it can be to create company names that are descriptive, yet unique.
However, some companies have gone a less-traditional route and used some pretty unique names. Here are some examples of interesting company names and the backstories behind them.
#Google
The name started as a joke about the amount of information the search engine could search, or a googol of information. (A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.) When founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave a presentation to an angel investor, they received a check made out to "Google."
However, some companies have gone a less-traditional route and used some pretty unique names. Here are some examples of interesting company names and the backstories behind them.
The name started as a joke about the amount of information the search engine could search, or a googol of information. (A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.) When founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave a presentation to an angel investor, they received a check made out to "Google."
#Ikea
Ikea is a random collection of letters. It uses the first letters of founder Ingvar Kamprad's name and the first letters of the Swedish property and the village where he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.
#Starbucks
The Starbucks logo — inspired by an old woodcut of a mythical siren –– was born from the rich marine history of Seattle, where rugged seafaring was a way of life long before grunge bands made the city forever cool.
The story behind the Starbucks name also has maritime roots: It hails from Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick.” In the novel, which chronicles a doomed whaling expedition from the coast of Nantucket, Starbuck is Captain Ahab’s first mate aboard a ship called the Pequod.
#Amazon
Before he created Amazon in 1996, founder Jeff Bezos christened his company Cadabra. That was short for Abracadabra, or the word he felt best conjured the idea that a book would magically appear —Abracadabra! — on a customer’s doorstep.
After Bezos’ lawyer thought “cadabra” sounded like “cadaver,” Bezos reconsidered. His perfect name would begin with an A, thus appearing first in the alphabetical listing of a web search. As the largest river in the world –– strong, swift and exotic –– the Amazon proved to be his ultimate inspiration.
#Zara
When the wealthy Amancio Ortega was looking for a name for his clothing company, he originally thought of calling it "Zorba", like the 1964 film, "Zorba the Greek", since he was a big fan of this movie of Anthony Quinn. He had even made the molding to put the letters on the panel of his store in A Coruña.
Nevertheless, shortly before the inauguration in 1975, he realized that the shop was not far from a bar whose name was "Zorba". As it was quite disturbing to have two companies with the same name in such a small area, Amancio Ortega recovered the casts and decided to add an "a", creating one of the most famous Spanish brands in the world whole.
#Lego
Lego is a combination of the Danish phrase leg godt, which translates to "play well." Initially the company built wooden toys, and later switched to making plastic bricks. Lego also means "I put together" in Latin, but the Lego Group claims this is coincidence, that the origin of the word is strictly Danish.
#Apple
While Jobs was a longtime fan of Japanese tech companies like Sony, the catalyst for Apple’s namesake was hardly high tech. During Jobs’ fruitarian period, in which he consumed an all-fruit diet, he visited an apple farm and inspiration struck.
#Coca-cola
Coca-Cola's name comes from the the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring in the soft drink. Eventually Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the K of kola to C to create a more fluid name.
