Everyone has played with the world's most famous building blocks as a child, or even as an adult. But what does Lego mean?
It comes from the words meaning "play well" in Danish. And that's just one of the inspirations that have remained in business history.
Business Insider decided to… reintroduce 14 of the most famous companies, explaining where they got the name that the whole world now knows.
IKEA
Founder Ingvar Kamprad combined his initials with those of Elmtarid and Agunnarid, the farm and village where he grew up.
CANON
was originally named Kwanon, after a Buddhist deity, but the company changed its name to Canon in 1935 to be more appealing to a global audience.
LEGO
combines the words "leg got" which in Danish means "play well".
SONY
It comes from sonus, the Latin word for sound and the slang expression "sonny boy" which in the 1950s in Japan described a smart, presentable young man.
HAAGEN-DAZS
It was chosen by its creators to sound like a Danish name and give an "aura of old world tradition and craftsmanship," but it means nothing in that language.
YAHOO
It is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle", but also a fictional species of rude, noisy and violent, which is mentioned in "Gulliver's Travels".
PEPSI
It was originally called "Brad's Drink", after its creator, Caleb Bradham, but took its current name in 1898 from the word indigestion, to represent Bradham's belief that it was something healthy that helped digestion.
GOOGLE
got its name from "googol", the mathematical term for 1 followed by 100 zeros.
VIRGIN
One of Richard Branson's associates suggested it, noting "We are complete virgins in business."
BLACKBERRY
Because its keys reminded its creators of the fruit.
SPOTIFY
Daniel Eck and Martin Lorenzón, who created it, were trying to come up with a name when Eck came up with the idea of Spotify. They now say it comes from the words spot and identify.
STARBUCKS
From the name of the lieutenant in "Moby Dick".
REEBOK
It is the word with a different spelling - rhebok - used in Afrikaans for a type of antelope. Its creators wanted it to reflect speed and grace.
AMAZON
Jeff Bezos wanted a name that started with "A" to be at the top of the alphabetical list. He thought the world's largest river was the best fit for what he hoped would become his biggest business.
Source: iefimerida.gr
