Branding
Read Time 3 Minutes

5 brand names with great stories behind them

Published on
October 29, 2020
Contributors
Written by Scott Lancaster
Entrepreneur & Branding Expert
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5 amazing brand names with great stories behind them

You see brand names every day, and you most likely say them every day. 

And without much thought, these names have seeped into your daily word bank, and are now embedded in your mind and vocabulary. 

But have you ever stopped and wondered how these names were formed? And the process that went into the names of these global brands. 

Let's look at how some of the best brand names in the world were born…


APPLE

Quite a number of theories have been floated around about how Apple got its name.

Some say it was named after the Beatles owned record label, Apple Records (as Steve Jobs was a fan of the Beatles).

Other theories say the name was inspired by the Apple that dropped on Sir Isaac Newton's head (this would seem to be the more romantic option).

However, in Walter Isaacson's biography, Steve Jobs revealed that the name stuck when he visited an apple farm. 

He thought the name to be "fun, spirited and not intimidating". 

So, turns out the brand name Apple, was inspired, by an apple.



IKEA

The furniture giants of Swedish origin, IKEA was named after the first letters of the founder's name Ingvar Kamprad (I and K), the family farm where he was born, Elmtaryd (E) and the village where he was raised, Agumaryd (A).

So the next time you’re trying to think of an amazingly clever brand name, just remember you can literally throw 4 letters together and it sometimes does the trick.


If you're interested in learning how to create a memorable brand identity which will stand out in your market place, check out our Brand Identity Creation course


ADOBE

Not many know Adobe got its name from the 14 mile Creek that ran behind co-founders John Warnock and Charles Geschke's houses at the Santa Clara County in California.

Using your environment is a great way to think up cool and unique brand names.

So if you're trying to come up with a brand name, simply look around you, you might just get inspired.



GOOGLE

The search engine giants came up with the name googol at first, which is a cardinal number represented as 1 followed by 100 zeros. 

The name was an allusion to the search engine's vision of handling enormous amounts of data, but when it got filed it was misspelled to Google, ooops!

Happy little mistakes can sometimes work out. It just so happens this mistake ended up being the name of one of the biggest tech companies on planet earth.



TESLA

The American electric automobile manufacturer was founded in 2003, predictably the brand name was inspired by physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla.

Many think Elon Musk gave the company its name, but cofounder Martin Eberhead actually chose it.

He chose the name as the AC electric motor that is used in the Tesla cars was invented by Nikola Tesla. A nod of gratitude and respect for the great inventor. 



The lesson we can learn from how these names were created is that there are so many different ways to create brand names. Each having it’s own unique benefits. 

So don’t be scared to experiment and try different things.

If you're interested in learning how to build a strategic brand from scratch, check out our Strategic Brand Building course


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