How did these brands/sites get their names?
Sometimes we all think about how unique a brand name is and wonder how they got the name or what's the idea behind that name. So, here I am loading your brain with some information.
Adidas was previously known as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (In English - Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory). It belongs to a small town in Bavaria, Germany. For some reason, Adolf Dassler, the founder switched to the name Adidas which is a combination of his nickname "Adi" and the first three letters of his surname "Das".
• Airtel
Airtel is one of the most successful telecommunication companies in the world. Previously, it was known as "Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd" but the company decided on the name "Bharti Airtel Ltd" to reflect the nature of the company. Airtel has been running in 18 countries across the globe and they have given great revenue in the past few years.
• Amazon
The American-based company initially started as an online marketplace for books. CEO Jeff Bezos wanted to build the world's largest bookstore. He wanted to name his company starting with "A". Knowing that "Amazon" is also the name of the largest river on Earth, he landed on the same name. Nowadays, The company is not only an online books store but also provides various other services such as music CDs, video games, DVDs, apparel, cosmetics, gourmet food, groceries, fire TV, web series etc. Isn't? Amazon a great name for the website.
• Apple Inc.
I think Steve Jobs must have said My favorite fruit is Apple why don't we name this brand that only. Because that's the exact reason behind this name. Well, it's a huge brand now. Dare I say anything about it? I mean, I also included the name "Tangled" after watching the Disney movie "Tangled".
• Bewakoof
Bewakoof means "Stupid" in Hindi and the founders thought it would be cool to have such a name. In addition, they thought this name breaks the basic societal norms. If somebody is Bewakoof, he is considered dumb but he can be taken as someone who thinks out of the box.
• Ebay Inc.
The American Multi-national E-Commerce facilitates Consumer-to-Consumer and Business-to-Consumer sales. As of 2019, the site is successfully in operation in about 32 countries. The French-American founder Pierre Morad Omidyar founded the corporation in September 1995 as AuctionWeb. At the start, the site was just a hobby for Mr Omidyar but soon he came to realize the high traffic the site was getting and he worked towards it. It now competes with Amazon, Walmart, Etsy and AliExpress etc.
• Flipkart
Flipkart is an Indian company with its headquarters in Bangalore and registration in Singapore. The founders initially focused on selling books but after 2008, it grew as the website was receiving 100 orders per day. Since that day it never looked back. As success hits the door of the website, It expanded over time and now, it owns the popular fashion site "Myntra", the mobile payments servicing app "PhonePe" and an Indian courier delivery service "Ekart". Founded 14 years ago by the former employees of Amazon, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal., the site earns revenue in billions every year and gives neck-to-neck competition to Amazon.
• HP Inc.
• HP Inc.
HP aka Hewlett-Packard. The brand is named after the respective surnames of the founders - Bill Hewlett and David Packard. Although, a trick decided which last name would come first. They tossed a coin and there we go. By the way, Aren't you happy that Mr Hewlett won? I mean, HP sounds better than PH. Isn't it?
• McDonald's
• McDonald's
Ray Kroc, the founder opened his first restaurant after taking inspiration from McDonald Brothers. He then bought their name and service and it worked. As a result, there's no turning back for them. McDonald's is successfully serving in more than 100 countries with 36000 outlets.
• Microsoft Corporation
The founders of Mircosoft, Bill Gates and Paul Allen decided upon the name after the English words - Microprocessor and Software and they shortened it to Mirco-Soft. Later on, they removed the hyphen. Just thinking how weird must have been in the beginning though now it looks like an apt name for this nature of the business.
• Nike
Nike is a word taken from Greek mythology that states Nike is The Winged Goddess of Victory. The fun part is that it was decided overnight because the manufacturers had to print the name the morning after.
• OLX Group
OLX is derived from Online Exchange. It has users in more than 40 countries and is owned by Naspers, a South African multinational internet technology company.
• Parle G
Parle is a name derived from a village in Maharashtra. It is also the place where the production of biscuits first took place. In addition to Parle, there's G which stands for Glucose. In some of its Advertisements, G was phrased as Genius. Parle-G has come a long way. According to reports, In 2019, it had a 70% share of the global biscuit market.
• Pepsi
Pepsi is adopted from an enzyme found in the human body called Pepsin. The founder, Caleb D. Bradham originally named his drink "Brad's drink". After some years, In 1898, he changed the name to Pepsi-Cola and again changed its name to Pepsi in 1961. Pepsi has done its branding now a few times and still, it's a lovable product for Cola fans. Many times it is used as a supplement to Coca-Cola.
• Puma
Just like Adidas, Rudolf Dassler, the founder of Puma chose "Ruda" as the brand name but soon after he changed the name to Puma to grace his brand by associating the animal's characteristics.
• Rolex
Watch brand, Rolex as a word does not mean anything. Hans Wilsdorf, one of the founders of the brand wanted to keep a short yet elegant name and he came up with hundreds of them. Somehow, he thought the name Rolex describes the brand the most.
• Samsung
Samsung comes from a country called South Korea and it's a Korean word which means three stars. Reason behind this name is Lee Byung Chull, the founder wanted his brand to be powerful and everlasting just like stars in the sky.
• Starbucks
The founders of Starbucks, Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Zev Seigl brainstormed a lot before reaching the name "Starbucks". They wanted the name to look something adventurous. They kind of decided on Pequod but passed it because it won't look appealing on cups. After some more ideas, they finalised Starbucks inspired by "Starbo" a name mentioned in the classic novel "Moby-Dick".
• The Coca-Cola Company
Coca-Cola as in Coca leaves and Cola berries. Well, these are ingredients put in the drink. Dr Pemberton, the founder had a bookkeeper named Frank Robinson who suggested this name. They ended up getting this name registered just so it'll look good on the packaging.
• Vodafone
For a telecommunications company, I am impressed with the wit behind this. Usually, fashion brands do good marketing jobs. Coming to the point, Vodafone as a name is a combination of Voice, Data and Mobile Phone (F replaced Ph hence, Fone). The idea was just to reflect the nature of the business.
Some of the brand names are solely based on the respective names of their founders. Such as:
Gabrielle Chanel - Coco Chanel,
Christian Dior - Dior
Guccio Gucci - Gucci,
Micheal Dell - Dell Technologies,
Louis Vuitton - LV,
Mario Prada - Prada.
And, that's how the world got these names. What's your review of them? Did any behind-the-brand story surprise you? Let me know what are your thoughts and thanks for reading
