How 6 Memorable Tech Companies Got Their Names 94
itwbennett writes "If Larry Page and Sergey Brin had stuck with the first name for their search engine, we'd be 'BackRubbing' instead of Googling. But the fun doesn't stop there. The unforgettable Go Daddy was first saddled with the eminently Seussian moniker 'Jomax Technologies.' And as for Yahoo!... its original name just rolled off the tongue: 'Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web.'"
Apple? (Score:4, Insightful)
Make or break names (Score:5, Insightful)
No, we'd be using something else.
Jomax! (Score:4, Insightful)
The unforgettable Go Daddy was first saddled with the eminently Seussian moniker 'Jomax Technologies.'
Why didn't they use that? That's a way better name. I can't stand the name "Go Daddy". It's reason enough not to deal with them (although there are plenty of others).
Re:Make or break names (Score:4, Insightful)
No, we'd be using something else.
Quite likely AltaVista.
Re:Make or break names (Score:3, Insightful)
No, we'd be using something else.
Doubtful.. names don't seem to help or hurt at all. Few people knew what a googol was before Google, and most people probably still don't.
Of course, if the name BackRub had been selected, we'd all be "rubbing one out" right now and talking about the new InstaRub feature.
So... pretty much no change at all.
Re:Bite out of the apple (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:So if it wasn't for Google... (Score:1, Insightful)
"Just fucking google it" becomes "Just fucking backrub it", or "Just fucking rub it". I dunno, that last one isn't too bad.
Naming a company today ... (Score:4, Insightful)
2. Check for trademarks yourself.
3. Pay an attorney to check for trademarks. They will find conflicts that you never imagined and that you disagree with, however they understand the trademark office better than you.
4. Now create that s-corp, llc, etc.
and of course it has to be added:
5. ?
6. Profit!
Re:Make or break names (Score:2, Insightful)
Names don't make much of a difference if they are pronounceable and don't have unintended second meanings.
If it were called Akfarlopagop, I'd get tired of typing that and feel like an idiot when trying to tell someone about it....and they would likely misspell it. And it's not like they can use google to look up Akfarlopagop because....google would be it.
Or if it were called Smallwinky. You should smallwinky that. Let me smallwinky that for you.
Names make a difference, it's just really hard to notice it until you take it to the more extreme/foolish names.
Google is easy to spell when you hear it.....and not so hard to pronounce that you'd have a lot of people saying it differently.
Atari (Score:3, Insightful)
They were originally going to be called " Syzygy".
Talk about dodging a bullet...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari [wikipedia.org]
Re:Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't believe that for one second. How did he get a girlfriend before Microsoft made him a crapload of cash?
Re:Names really do make a difference (Score:1, Insightful)
when is the last time you heard of anything at all worthwhile coming from there
humans
Re:Bite out of the apple (Score:3, Insightful)
This post should be modded Insightful, not Funny.
Brilliant, sir.