-: How Compnies Got their Brand Name :-

Oreo - Originally, Oreos were mound-shaped; hence the name "oreo" (Greek for "hill").

Pepsi - Pepsi derives its name from (treatment of) dyspepsia, an intestinal ailment. (Homigod! I did not know that!!)

Fanta - was originally invented by Max Keith in Germany in 1940 when World War II made it difficult to get the Coca-Cola syrup to Nazi Germany. Fanta was originally made from byproducts of cheese and jam production. The name comes from the German word for imagination (Fantasie or Phantasie), because the inventors thought that imagination was needed to taste oranges from the strange mix.

Häagen-Dazs - Contrary to common belief, the name is not European; it is simply two made-up words meant to look European to American eyes. This is known in the marketing industry as foreign branding.

Hyundai - connotes the sense of "the present age" or "modernity" in Korean.

Kodak - Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman. The letter "K" was a favourite with Eastman; he felt it a strong and incisive letter. He tried out various combinations of words starting and ending with "K". He saw three advantages in the name. It had the merits of a trademark word, would not be mis-pronounced and the name did not resemble anything in the art. There is a misconception that the name was chosen because of its similarity to the sound produced by the shutter of the camera.

Psion - UK company named by its founder, South Africa-born Dr David Potter, from Potter Scientific Instruments Or Nothing. (How cool is that?!)

3Com - Network technology producer, "Computer Communication Compatibility".

DHL - the company was founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn, whose last initials form the company's moniker. (Never knew that!!)

LEGO - combination of the Danish "leg godt", which means to "play well." Lego also means "I put together" in Latin, but LEGO Group claims this is only a coincidence and the etymology of the word is entirely Danish. Years before the little plastic brick was invented, LEGO manufactured wooden toys

Lycos - from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiders.

Nike - named for the Greek goddess of victory.

Reebok - another spelling of rhebok (Pelea capreolus), an African antelope.

Smart - Swatch + Mercedes + Art

Nintendo - Nintendo is composed of 3 Japanese Kanji characters, Nin-ten-do. The first two can be translated to "Heaven blesses hard work"; do is a common ending for any store.

Lexus - Toyota labeled the program to develop a luxury car for the United States as Luxury Export to the U.S. When it came time to choose a name for the car, the company just shortened the working title.

LoJack - "LoJack" (the stolen-vehicle recovery system) is a pun on the word "Hijack" (to steal a vehicle).

Sprint - from its parent company, Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal Communications. Back in the day, pipelines and railroad tracks were the cheapest place to lay communications lines, as the right-of-way was already leased or owned.

Starbucks - named after Starbuck, a character in Herman Melville's whaling novel, Moby-Dick.

Stellent - coined from a combination of the words STellar and excELLENT. Derisively referred to as the combination of STupid and repELLENT by some. (Muhawhaw!!)

Subaru - from the Japanese name for the constellation known to Westerners as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Subaru was formed from a merger of seven other companies, and the constellation is featured on the company's logo.

Taco Bell - named after founder Glen Bell.

Toyota - from the founder's name Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan.

TVR - Formed from the first name of the company founder TreVoR Wilkinson (Hey! Those are my initials!! )

Volvo - From the Latin word "volvo", which means "I roll". It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF.

Xerox - The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product trying to say `dry' (as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying). The Greek root `xer' means dry.

Verizon - A portmanteau of veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon.

Yahoo! - a "backronym" for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. The word Yahoo was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders David Filo and Jerry Yang selected the name because they jokingly considered themselves yahoos.

Yoplait - In 1965, "Yola" and "Coplait", decided to merge, becoming "Yoplait". The logo they chose was a six-petalled flower, each petal representing one of the six main co-operatives that founded the company.