
List of company name etymologies - bjonathan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_company_name_etymologies
======
Nate75Sanders
Wow, no mention of Iomega, one of the most aptly named companies in history,
in my opinion. They were the makers of the Zip and Jaz drives, among other
things.

I/O Mega (input/output...mega)

Iω (I-omega -- the product of the moment of inertia with angular velocity --
resulting in angular momentum)

~~~
ubasu
Well, it's Wikipedia - feel free to put it in. ;-)

------
simonsarris
They are missing the car brand Lexus, which stands for Luxury Export to US.
(how spartan a name for a luxury brand!)

edit: Ah nevermind, re-reading the lexus wiki page states that:

 _The etymology of the Lexus name has been attributed to the combination of
the words "luxury" and "elegance," and another theory claims it is an acronym
for "luxury exports to the U.S." According to Team One interviews, the brand
name has no specific meaning and simply denotes a luxurious and technological
image._

------
kia
This is nice

 _Six Apart – company co-founders Ben and Mena Trott were born six days apart_

------
TeMPOraL
It's interesting how many companies were named after founders. I get the
feeling that today it's no longer the case for technology companies.

~~~
saraid216
I honestly have trouble deciding if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Good: It's less ego-centric. Bad: It's more idea-centric.

I mean, the YC mantra is that founders matter most, no?

~~~
dredmorbius
I think on balance it's bad.

Naming an enterprise for the founder/founders helps wire in more of the
critical DNA, but in a way which _doesn't_ tie you to a specific product or
service. It's tricky to do this with a more generic name. This gives both an
anchoring identity and flexibility to grow. It tends to imply a long-term view
by the founders as well: why attach your name to something for which you've
got an explicit exit strategy?

By way of counter-examples, "IBM" (International Business Machines) turns out
to be a really good, generic, but still applicable and adaptable, name.
"Apple" has worked fairly well. "Xerox" is tied to a specific duplication
method. "Polaroid" grew and died with a specific photographic process (though
"Land" doesn't seem to have helped much in this case).

From recent tech memory, "VA Research" (later "VA Linux") was named for its
cofounders.

------
libria
So Wendy's is named after Dave Thomas's daughter Melinda. That seems to raise
more questions than it answers.

~~~
jewel
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Thomas#Importance_to_Wend...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Thomas#Importance_to_Wendy.27s)

------
DanBC
Was pyrex a company name?

Pyrex == latin pyro + rex == fire king.

~~~
aashay
Pyrex is a Corning brand: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrex>

