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How the worlds biggest companies got their names !
Some of the worlds biggest companies have such commonplace names that you would always wonder that where it all began.
From the origin of Google to the near-primitive nature of the word Youtube , most of these companies started off as a bunch of people in the living rooms putting together ideas and coming up with wacky names of their product.
Check out how the worlds biggest companies got their names !
1. Twitter
' Came from the looking the word that sounded like Twitch '
' Came from the looking the word that sounded like Twitch '
Originally , the people who started the team used the name ' Stat.us ' . When the time arrived to put the product out however , they decided to use the word ' Twitch ' , referring to the way a cell phone vibrates in the pocket . Though they liked the feeling of the word . they didn't know like how it sounded. A small perusal through a dictionary helped them land on the word twitter.
2. Wikipedia
' Comes from the words 'Wiki' meaning quick , and 'encyclopedia'.
This vast storehouse of information gets its name from the two words Wiki and encyclopedia. Wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning quick and also refers to a simplification of the process of creating HTML pages combined with a system that records each individual change that occurs over time.
3. Reddit
' Combination of the words 'Read' and 'it '
This website , where community users submit content that is heavily moderated to ensure prime quality , has a name which is stupidly simple. Its a play on the words 'Read it' , such as someone saying ' i Read on the Reddit '.
4. Google
' A play on the word 'googol' , the mathematical term for 1 followed by 100 zeroes '
Larry page and Sergey Brin , the two founders of Google based the name on the word googol . Googol is a mathematical term denoting 1 followed by a 100 zeroes. Fun fact, the word ' googol ' was actually coined by a 9 year old named Milton Sirotta , nephew of the American mathematician Edward Kasner.
5. Youtube
' Refers to a TV , or " The tube " where you can play whatever you want '
There's not much official information about the etymology of Youtube , probably because it's not that difficult a name to figure out. A TV is also referred to as 'The tube' in several places , and the 'you' implies that you're in charge of whatever plays.
6. 9GAG
' The name came about as the original site only had 9 posts per page '
When Ray Chan and 4 other started 9GAG , It was meant as a side project and was sort of a resume builder . At the time, it only had around 9 posts, or 'gags' per page , effectively giving it the name 9GAG. Now however , it has an endless stream of posts.
7. Ebay
' Was shortened from the original company name EchoBay '
Pierre Omidyar , who started Ebay , originally planned to call his computer consulting company Echobay. In fact, the first item sold on his site was a broken laser point pen. When he tried to buy the domain name however he found that Echobay was already taken , and this shortened it to the word Ebay.
8. Instagram
' This is a combination of the words 'Insta camera' and 'Telegram '
According to instagram CEO Kevin Systrom , they wanted to combine the feeling of 'right here' along with the basic idea of recording a part of your life. Combining the words 'insta camera' and 'Telegram' did the trick.
9. Facebook
' Derived from the books issued at Harvard to help students identify each other '
In american colleges , they usually have a system of publishing yearbooks . In Harvard however , they issue books at the start of the year with the intention of helping students get to know each other better , known as Facebooks. The Facemash program Mark Zuckerberg originally created finally evolved into this.
10. Pinterest
' Originally called 'Pin board '
Co - founder Ben Silbermann's wife came up with the name Pinterest . The original version of Pinterest was actually called Pin board , and is what inspired Ben's wife to come up with the name.
11. Yahoo
' Chose the name as it means 'rude and uncouth' .
The two founders , David Filo and Jerry yang , started the website as a simple collection of websites they found interesting . In fact , it was originally called ' Jerry and David's guide to the world wide web', but they later went with 'Yahoo' , adding an exclamation at the end to avoid domain name clashes. It actually stands for 'Yet another Hierarchical officious Oracle'.
12. Amazon
' Because it would appear on top in alphabetical listings '
According to Jeff Bezos , the website was originally supposed to be called 'Cadabra' . However , one of Jeff's lawyers mistakenly heard it pronounced 'Cadaver' , a situation Jeff wanted to avoid 2nd time , thereby changing the name to Amazon , to suggest the size as well as stay on the top of alphabetical website listings.
