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
(Computer Language)
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++
(Computer Language)
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. As no name came by 5 O'clock, he named it Apple
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 check 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 as 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 word 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' as a
slang used for it 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.