Apache
It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches
to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'A PAtCHy'
server - thus, the name Apache.
Jakarta (project from Apache)
A project constituted by SUN and Apache to create a web server
handling servlets and JSPs. Jakarta was name of the conference room at
SUN where most of the meetings between SUN and Apache took place.
Tomcat
The servlet part of the Jakarta project. Tomcat was the code name for
the JSDK 2.1 project inside SUN.
C
Dennis Ritchie improved on the B programming language and called it
'New B'. He later called it C. Earlier B was created by Ken Thompson
as a revision of the Bon programming language (named after his wife
Bonnie).
C++
Bjarne Stroustrup called his new language 'C with Classes' and then
'new C'. Because of which the original C began to be called 'old C'
which was considered insulting to the C community. At this time Rick
Mascitti suggested the name C++ as a successor to C.
GNU
A species of African antelope. Founder of the GNU project Richard
Stallman liked the name because of the humor associated with its
pronunciation and was also influenced by the children's song 'The Gnu
Song' which is a song sung by a gnu. Also it fitted into the recursive
acronym culture with 'GNU's Not Unix'.
Java
Originally called Oak by creator James Gosling, from the tree that
stood outside his window, the programming team had to look for a
substitute, as there was no other language with the same name. Java
was selected from a list of suggestions. It came from the name of the
coffee that the programmers drank.
LG
Combination of two popular Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar.
Linux
Linus Torvalds originally used the Minix OS on his system, which he
replaced by his OS. Hence the working name was Linux (Linus' Minix).
He thought the name to be too egotistical and planned to name it Freax
(free + freak + x). His friend Ari Lemmke encouraged Linus to upload
it to a network so it could be easily downloaded. Ari gave Linus a
directory called Linux on his FTP server, as he did not like the name
Freax. (Linus's parents named him after two-time Nobel Prize winner
Linus Pauling).
Mozilla
When Marc Andreesen, founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace
Mosaic (also developed by him), it was named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer
Godzilla). The marketing guys didn't like the name however and it was
re-christened Netscape Navigator.
Red Hat
Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap
(with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He
lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta
version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red
Hat if found by anyone!
SAP
"Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by 4
ex-IBM employees who used to work in the
'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
SCO (UNIX)
From Santa Cruz Operation. The company's office was in Santa Cruz.
UNIX
When Bell Labs pulled out of MULTICS (MULTiplexed Information and
Computing System), which was originally a joint Bell/GE/MIT project,
Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie of Bell Labs wrote a simpler version
of the OS. They needed the OS to run the game Space War that was
compiled under MULTICS. It was called UNICS - UNIplexed operating and
Computing System by Brian Kernighan. It was later shortened to UNIX.
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.
3M
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company started off by mining the
material corundum used to make sandpaper.
Interesting facts behind some of the most famous brands.
There are many companies / brands / products whose
names were derived from strange circumstances.
Mercedes
This was actually the financier's daughter's name.
Adobe
This came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran
behind the house of founder John Warnock.
Apple Computers
It was the favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months
late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his
company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a
better name by 5 O'clock.
CISCO
It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It is short for San Francisco.
Compaq
This name was formed by using COMp, for computer, and PAQ to denote a
small integral object.
Corel
The name was derived from the founder's name Dr. Michael Cowpland. It
stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.
Google
The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information
the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named
'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100
zeros. After founders Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry
Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a
cheque made out to 'Google'
Hotmail
Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a
computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the
business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending
in 'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included! the letters
"html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was
initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective uppercasing.
Hewlett Packard
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the
company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or
Packard-Hewlett.
Intel
Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore
Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain so they had
to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.
Lotus (Notes)
Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or
'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation
of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Microsoft
Coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to
MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft! , the '-'
was removed later on.
Motorola
Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started
manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time
was called Victrola.
ORACLE
Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for
the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project
was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to
all questions or something such). The project was designed to help use
the newly written SQL code by IBM. The project eventually was
terminated but Larry and Bob decided to finish what they started and
bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS
engine. Later they kept the same name for the company.
Sony
It originated from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a
slang used ! by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.
SUN
Founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN is the acronym for
Stanford University Network. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a
microcomputer; Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy to
manufacture computers based on it, and Bill Joy to develop a
UNIX-based OS for the computer.
Yahoo!
The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book
'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in
appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! Founders Jerry Yang
and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves
yahoos.
