Behind a Successful Name

Know how the names of your favourite companies came into being.

Kumar Rahul Tiwary

Apple Computers: Apple was founder Steve Jobs’ favourite fruit. He was three months late in filing a name for his business. So he threatened to name the company “Apple” if other colleagues don’t come up with a better name. And the rest is history…

Google: It was originally called Googol, a word that represents 1 followed 100 zeroes. After founders Seargey Brin and Larry Page presented their projects to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to Google.

Hotmail: Sabeer Bhatia tried all types of names ending with mail, and fixed it as Hotmail, as it contained all 4 letters of HTML. Earlier it was referred to as HoTMaiL.

Hewlett-Packard: Founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Intel: Acronym for of Integrated Electronics.

Microsoft: Bill Gates thought the name was devoted to micro computer software. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the hyphen was taken off later on. 

Motorola: Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for motor cars.

Sony: Comes from Latin word Sonus meaning sound.

Red Hat: Founder Marc Ewing lost his favourite red hat, which he had got from his grandfather. He searched for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return the red hat if found by anyone.

Reference: HT Café, August 24, 2007.