How Famous Brands Got Their Names: 20 Origin Stories

The Stories Behind the Names

Every brand name has an origin story. Some are strategic masterstrokes. Others are happy accidents. Here are 20 fascinating naming origins that reveal what makes a brand name stick.

Tech Giants

Google

Larry Page and Sergey Brin originally called their search engine "BackRub." Thankfully, they renamed it after "googol" — the number 1 followed by 100 zeros — to represent the massive amount of information they wanted to organize. The misspelling was accidental but stuck.

Apple

Steve Jobs was on a fruitarian diet and had just returned from an apple farm. He thought Apple sounded "fun, spirited, and not intimidating." It also put them before Atari alphabetically in the phone book.

Amazon

Jeff Bezos wanted a name starting with "A" to appear first in directories. He chose Amazon because it was the largest river in the world, representing his ambition to build the largest store.

Nike

Named after the Greek goddess of victory. Co-founder Jeff Johnson suggested it the night before the deadline. Phil Knight didn't love it initially but went with it because they needed to submit paperwork.

Spotify

Co-founder Daniel Ek was brainstorming with Martin Lorentzon when one of them misheard a suggested name. They later reverse-engineered an explanation: "spot" + "identify."

Consumer Brands

Adidas

Named after founder Adolf "Adi" Dassler — Adi + Das. His brother Rudolf founded a rival shoe company called Puma.

IKEA

An acronym of founder Ingvar Kamprad's initials (I.K.) plus the first letters of the farm (Elmtaryd) and village (Agunnaryd) where he grew up.

Starbucks

Named after Starbuck, the first mate in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. The founders wanted a name that evoked the romance of the sea and seafaring tradition of early coffee traders.

Lego

From the Danish phrase "leg godt," meaning "play well." The founders later discovered it also means "I put together" in Latin — a happy coincidence.

Pepsi

Named after pepsin, the digestive enzyme. Creator Caleb Bradham originally called it "Brad's Drink" before rebranding.

Modern Brands

Uber

German for "above" or "over," suggesting superiority. Co-founder Travis Kalanick originally wanted "UberCab" but shortened it after a cease-and-desist from San Francisco regulators.

Slack

An acronym for "Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge." Conveniently, the word also means ease and comfort.

Zoom

Founder Eric Yuan wanted something simple that conveyed speed. "Zoom" was short, energetic, and universally understood.

Stripe

The founders chose it because of the stripe on credit cards. Simple, visual, and directly connected to payments.

Airbnb

Short for "Air Bed and Breakfast" — the founders rented out air mattresses in their apartment to conference attendees who couldn't find hotel rooms.

Legacy Brands

Mercedes-Benz

Emil Jellinek, an early Daimler car dealer, named the cars after his daughter Mercedes. Benz came from Karl Benz, co-inventor of the automobile.

Coca-Cola

Named after two key ingredients: coca leaves and kola nuts. The "K" in kola was changed to "C" for visual consistency.

Sony

From "sonus" (Latin for sound) and "sonny" (a term for bright young men in postwar Japan). It was chosen because it worked across languages.

Canon

Originally "Kwanon," named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Simplified to Canon for international appeal.

Häagen-Dazs

Reuben Mattus invented the name to sound Danish-European, evoking old-world craftsmanship. It's completely made up and means nothing in any language.

Patterns and Lessons

Looking across these stories, several patterns emerge:

Simplicity wins. Almost all these names are under three syllables.
Meaning is optional. Google, Sony, and Häagen-Dazs had no meaning at launch. Meaning was built through brand experience.
Personal connections work. Adidas, IKEA, and Mercedes all have personal origins that became universal.
First choices often fail. BackRub → Google. Brad's Drink → Pepsi. UberCab → Uber. Don't get attached to your first idea.
Availability matters. Many of these names required iteration specifically because earlier choices were taken.

Write Your Own Origin Story

The best brand names feel inevitable in hindsight, but they're rarely obvious upfront. Start with strategy, explore creatively, and — critically — make sure your chosen name is available everywhere it needs to be.

Check your brand name's availability across domains, social media, and trademarks with BrandScout before you commit to your own naming story.