11 Famous Companies That Originally Had Very Different Names
Updated: Aug. 19, 2021Sometimes it takes a few tries to get the right name.
BackRub
Believe it or not, Google was originally given the name BackRub. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the creators of Google, came up with the name in 1996 before the search engine even existed. After a year, they weren’t completely satisfied with the name and changed it to Google in 1997. Google comes from the mathematical term “googol,” which represents the digit 1 followed by 100 zeroes. That large number is meant to reflect their hope to have a search engine with practically infinite information. Good thing they changed it because hearing someone say, “I don’t know, let me BackRub that,” would be pretty strange. Check out what these company logos looked like when they were young.
Sound of Music
Not to be confused with the Julie Andrews movie, the electronics store Best Buy was originally called Sound of Music. Richard M. Schulze established the original store in 1966 in St. Paul, Minnesota. At the time, they just sold home and car stereos. Then in 1981, a tornado tore through their most profitable store causing them to have a “Tornado Sale” where they sold damaged goods for discounted prices. In order to get people to come to the sale, the company advertised it by promising “best buys” on all the products. They made more money at the sale than they did in an average month so the company was renamed Best Buy.
Quantum Computer Services
In 1983, Steve Case created Quantum Computer Services. “His idea was to create an online bulletin board for owners of Commodore 64 computers. It wasn’t a sexy niche, but he thought it might have potential,” reported TIME. “From 1985 onward, Case nurtured Quantum from a few thousand members to more than 100,000.” In 1991 the company was renamed America Online, better known as AOL. You’ve probably been mispronouncing these company names all along.
Brad’s Drink
Pharmacist Caleb Bradham was experimenting with ingredients in 1893 when he created what is now known as Pepsi. The overnight hit was originally known as “Brad’s Drink” after his last name. In 1898, he renamed the drink Pepsi-Cola. Then in 1902, the Pepsi-Cola Company was started due to the high demand for the drink.
Confinity
PayPal was originally called Confinity. Their original name was meant to be a merge of the words confidence and infinity, but the company was renamed PayPal in June of 2001 when the main focus became making payments through email. See if you can spot the hidden messages in these company logos.
Research in Motion
The once-popular cell phone company Blackberry was originally called Research in Motion. The company changed their name in 2013 to Blackberry after their best selling product since that’s how most people referred to it.
Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web
This very long company name was eventually changed to Yahoo! The founders of the site, Jerry Yang and David Filo, originally named the search engine after themselves. However, as the site grew in popularity, the founders decided to change it. Yahoo! is an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” Also, see if you can guess these famous acronyms.
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo
Sony was originally named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo. The two founders, Ibuka Masaru and Morita Akio, became successful in repairing radios and other electronic devices. They started to make a name for their company when they invented Japan’s first transistor radio in 1955. In 1958, the company was renamed Sony after the Latin word for sound, “sonus.”
Pete’s Super Submarines
Fred DeLuca opened up the sandwich shop Pete’s Super Submarines, now know as Subway, in order to pay his tuition to medical school. DeLuca and his family friend, Peter Buck, opened their first shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1965. The business struggled and they renamed the store Subway. Within their first year under the new name, they made $7,000 in profit.
Blue Ribbon Sports
The company Nike was originally founded as Blue Ribbon Sports. Founded in 1964, it first served as a U.S. distributor of running shoes made by Onitsuka Tiger, a Japanese company now known as Asics. In 1971, the company decided that it wanted to distribute its own shoes under their own brand and needed a new name. They eventually decided on Nike after the Greek goddess of victory.
Marufuku Company
In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi began manufacturing Japanese playing cards. The cards started to become popular around the world so Yamauchi founded Marufuku Co. Ltd. In 1951, the company name was changed to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. It was changed again in 1963 to Nintendo when the company started selling games in addition to playing cards. Next, read up on these other fascinating origins of company names.
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