Ever wondered how some of the biggest tech companies got their names? We use their products every day but most of us have no idea where those names actually came from. This is the story behind the names, how small ideas, random moments, or bold decisions turned into some of the most iconic brands in the world. In this article we’ll look at five major companies that changed the tech world starting with names you definitely know.
The name “Google” comes from the word googol, which represents the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes. Larry Page and Sergey Brin originally called their search engine BackRub while developing it at Stanford in 1996. The name was based on how the system analyzed backlinks across the web.
Later, they decided to rebrand with a name that reflected their mission to organize massive amounts of information. A team member suggested “googol,” but while checking domain availability, it was accidentally typed as google.com. The typo sounded right, the domain was available, and they went with it, giving birth to one of the most iconic names in tech. Google History
Facebook started in 2004 when Mark Zuckerberg, along with a few fellow Harvard students, launched a site called TheFacebook. It was initially meant to connect students at Harvard by letting them create profiles and view others within the university.
Many colleges used printed student directories at the time, often called face books. Mark Zuckerberg and his team took inspiration from that and named the platform TheFacebook. As the platform quickly expanded beyond Harvard, they dropped the word “The” and bought the domain facebook.com for $200,000. The shorter name gave it a cleaner, more modern feel and made it easier to scale globally. Facebook History
Samsung
The name “Samsung” comes from the Korean words sam (meaning “three”) and sung (meaning “stars”). The founder, Lee Byung-chul, chose the name in 1938 to represent something big, powerful, and everlasting, just like stars in the sky.
Samsung originally started as a small trading company that sold groceries, noodles, and dried fish. Over the decades, the company expanded into electronics, construction, shipbuilding, and more. Even as it grew, Samsung kept its original name to preserve its symbolic meaning of greatness and stability across generations. Samsung History
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Apple
Steve Jobs chose the name Apple because he liked how it sounded. It felt fun, simple, and not intimidating. Around that time he was working at an apple orchard while following a fruitarian diet and believed the name had a friendly and approachable vibe.
There was also a strategic reason. In phone books and directories, Apple would appear before Atari, the company Jobs previously worked for. The clean name, paired with a sleek logo, helped Apple stand out in a tech world full of cold, complex names. Apple History
Amazon
Jeff Bezos originally wanted to name his company Cadabra, as in abracadabra. But when someone misheard it as “cadaver,” he quickly dropped the idea. He then explored a bunch of names starting with the letter A to appear early in alphabetical listings.
Eventually, he landed on Amazon, inspired by the world’s largest river. He wanted the name to reflect something vast and powerful, just like the vision he had for the company. The name stuck, and today Amazon lives up to exactly what it was meant to be, massive and unstoppable. Amazon History
