List of company name etymologies
Encyclopedia
This is a list of company names with their name origins explained. Some origins are disputed.
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- 19 Entertainment19 Entertainment19 Entertainment, based in Los Angeles, United States, is a creator and producer of entertainment properties based around the areas of Music and Television / Film, including American Idol in the United States, Pop Idol in the United Kingdom as well as versions of the Idol series in more than...
– Talent company founded by Simon Fuller and "named after Paul Hardcastle's single 19, the first No. 1 Fuller had a hand in", according to TV Guide . After selling 19 Entertainment to CKX, Inc, Fuller founded XIX EntertainmentXIX EntertainmentXIX Entertainment is an entertainment content and intellectual rights organisation based in North America and Europe. The company, which has been valued at $100 million...
, which is 19 in Roman numerals. - 20th Century Fox20th Century FoxTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
– Film studio; formed in 1935 through the merger of William FoxWilliam Fox (producer)William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
's Fox Film, and Twentieth Century Pictures. - 23andme23andMe23andMe is a privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California that is developing new methods and technologies that will enable consumers to understand their own genetic information...
– Using the 23 pairs of chromosomes that make up each person's genomeGenomeIn modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
, the company helps individuals make sense of their own genome. - 27b/6 – The apartment where George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
wrote the novel Nineteen Eighty Four was number 27B on level 6. - 37signals37signals37signals is a privately held web application company based in Chicago, Illinois. The firm was co-founded in 1999 by Jason Fried, Carlos Segura, and Ernest Kim as a web design company. Segura left in 2000 and Kim left in 2003, leaving Fried as the only remaining founder.Since mid-2004, the...
– Web development company; named for the 37 radiotelescope signals identified by astronomer Paul HorowitzPaul HorowitzPaul Horowitz is a U.S. physicist and electrical engineer, known primarily for his work in electronics design, as well as for his role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence .-Biography:...
as potential messages from extraterrestrial intelligence. - 3Com3Com3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
– Network technology producer; the three coms are computer, communication, and compatibility. - 3M3M3M Company , formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States....
– from the company's original name, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. - 7-Eleven7-Eleven7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...
– Convenience stores; renamed from "U-Tote'm" in 1946 to reflect their newly extended hours, 7:00 am until 11:00 pm
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- A&M RecordsA&M RecordsA&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
– named after founders Herb AlpertHerb AlpertHerbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
and Jerry MossJerry MossJerome S. "Jerry" Moss is an American recording executive, best known for being the co-founder of A&M Records, along with trumpeter and bandleader Herb Alpert.... - A&P – from Atlantic & Pacific in Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, a U.S.-based supermarket chain.
- A&W Root BeerA&W Root BeerA&W Root Beer is a brand of root beer, primarily available in the United States and Canada, that was started in 1919 by Roy Allen. In 1922, Allen partnered with Frank Wright. They combined their initials to create the brand "A&W" and inspired a restaurant chain which was founded 1922. The first A&W...
– named after founders Roy Allen and Frank Wright - ABN AMROABN AMROABN AMRO Bank N.V. is a Dutch state-owned bank with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was re-established, in its current form, in 2009 following the acquisition and break up of ABN AMRO Group by a banking consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander and Fortis...
– in the 1960s, the Nederlandsche Handel-MaatschappijNederlandsche Handel-MaatschappijThe Netherlands Trading Society was a Dutch trading company established in 1824 by King Willem I of the Netherlands to promote and develop trade, shipping and agriculture...
(Dutch Trading Society; 1824) and De Twentsche Bank merged to form the Algemene Bank NederlandAlgemene Bank NederlandAlgemene Bank Nederland was a Dutch bank that became one of the main predecessors in ABN AMRO. It was created in 1964 when the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij merged with De Twentsche Bank...
(ABN; General Bank of the Netherlands); in 1966, the Amsterdamsche Bank and the Rotterdamsche Bank merged to form the Amro Bank; in 1991, ABN and Amro Bank merged to form ABN AMRO. - AccentureAccentureAccenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...
– from "Accent on the future". The name Accenture was proposed by a company employee in Norway as part of an internal name finding process (BrandStorming). Before 1 January 2001, the company was called Andersen Consulting. - Acer – Born as Multitech International in 1976, the company changed its name to Acer in 1987. The Latin word for “sharp, acute, able and facile”
- AdeccoAdeccoAdecco S.A. is a human resources company, based in Glattbrugg near Zurich, Switzerland. Adecco employs 700,000 temporary workers and contractors who are supplied to business clients, and has over 32,000 employees and 5,500 offices in 60 countries and territories around the world...
– named from the merger of Swiss staffing company Adia with French staffing company Ecco. - AdidasAdidasAdidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
– from the name of the founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler. - Adobe SystemsAdobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
– from the Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of co-founder John WarnockJohn WarnockJohn Edward Warnock is an American computer scientist best known as the co-founder with Charles Geschke of Adobe Systems Inc., the graphics and publishing software company. Dr. Warnock was President of Adobe for his first two years and Chairman and CEO for his remaining sixteen years at the company...
. - AholdAholdAhold is a major international supermarket operator based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Ahold is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.-History:...
– a holding companyHolding companyA holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
of Albert HeijnAlbert HeijnAlbert Heijn B.V. is a supermarket chain founded in 1887 in Oostzaan, Netherlands. It is named after Albert Heijn, Sr., the founder of the first store in Oostzaan....
and other supermarkets. For its 100th anniversary in 1987, Ahold was granted the title of Koninklijke ("Royal" in DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
) by the Monarchy of the NetherlandsMonarchy of the NetherlandsThe Netherlands has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815, and has been governed by members of the House of Orange-Nassau since.-Constitutional role and position of the monarch:...
, changing its name to Koninklijke Ahold (Royal Ahold). - AhlstromAhlstromAhlstrom is a Finnish wood processing firm and a global manufacturer of specialty papers and nonwoven materials, using natural and synthetic fibers to produce roll goods for customers who turn them into hundreds of products. Ahlstrom's shares have been traded on the main list of the Helsinki Stock...
– named after founder Antti AhlströmAntti AhlströmAntti Ahlström founded the Ahlstrom Corporation. He was one of Finland's most influential and wealthy 19th century businessmen... - AkaiAkaiAkai is a consumer electronics brand, founded by Saburo Akai as , a Japanese manufacturer in 1929. It is now headquartered in Singapore as a subsidiary of Grande Holdings, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which also owns the formerly Japanese brands Nakamichi and Sansui. The Akai brand is now used...
– named for its founder, Masukichi Akai. - AkamaiAkamai TechnologiesAkamai Technologies, Inc. is an Internet content delivery network headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.The company was founded in 1998 by then-MIT graduate student Daniel M. Lewin, and MIT Applied Mathematics professor Tom Leighton...
– from the HawaiianHawaiian languageThe Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
word akamai meaning smart or clever; the company defines it as "intelligent, clever and cool". - AKZO – named from the 1969 merger of Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU) and Koninklijke Zout Organon (KZO).
- AKG AcousticsAKG AcousticsAKG Acoustics is an Austrian manufacturer of microphones, headphones, wireless audio systems and related accessories for professional and consumer markets...
– from the company’s original name, Akustische und Kino-Geräte (Acoustic and Cinema Equipment) - Alcatel-LucentAlcatel-LucentAlcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...
– Alcatel was named from Société Alsacienne de Constructions Atomiques, de Télécomunications et d'Electronique. It took over Lucent Technologies in 2006. - AlcoaAlcoaAlcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...
– Aluminum Company of America. - AldiALDIALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...
– portmanteau for Albrecht (name of the founders) and discount - Alfa RomeoAlfa RomeoAlfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
– the company was originally known as ALFA, an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. When Nicola Romeo bought ALFA in 1915, his surname was appended. - AlstomAlstomAlstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
– set up as Alsthom in 1928 by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques and Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston, it changed the spelling to Alstom in 1997. - AltaVistaAltaVistaAltaVista is a web search engine owned by Yahoo!. AltaVista was once one of the most popular search engines but its popularity declined with the rise of Google...
– Spanish for "high view". - ALZAALZAAlza Corporation was a pharmaceutical and medical systems company founded in 1970's by Dr Alejandro Zaffaroni; the company's name is a portmanteau of his name. Alza pioneered the field of drug delivery systems, bringing over 20 prescription pharmaceutical products to market, and employing about...
– from the name of the founder Alex Zaffaroni. - Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
– founder Jeff BezosJeff BezosJeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer , and chairman of the board of Amazon.com.-Early life and background:...
renamed the company Amazon (from the earlier name of Cadabra.com) after the world's most voluminous river, the AmazonAmazon RiverThe Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
. He saw the potential for a larger volume of sales in an online (as opposed to a bricks and mortar) bookstore. (Alternative: Amazon was chosen to cash in on the popularity of Yahoo, which listed entries alphabetically.) - AmBevAmBevAmbev formally Companhia de Bebidas das Américas is a subsidiary of global brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev and is the biggest brewery in South America and the fifth in the world...
– American Beverage Company, the largest Brazilian beverage company and fourth in the world. In 2004 it merged with InterbrewInterbrewInterbrew was a large Belgium-based brewing company which owned many internationally known beers, as well as some smaller local beers. In 2004 Interbrew merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev to form InBev, which is the now largest brewer in the world by volume, with a 13% global market share now...
to create InbevInBevInBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
, which in turn purchased Anheuser-BuschAnheuser-BuschAnheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
in 2008 to form Anheuser-Busch InBevAnheuser-Busch InBevAnheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
. - AMC TheatresAMC TheatresAMC Theatres , officially known as AMC Entertainment, Inc., is the second largest movie theater chain in North America with 5,325 screens, second only to Regal Entertainment Group, and one of the United States's four national cinema chains AMC Theatres (American Multi-Cinema), officially known as...
– American Multi-Cinema: the company pioneered multi-screen cinemas. - AMDAdvanced Micro DevicesAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
– Advanced Micro Devices - AMKORAmkor TechnologyAmkor Technology, Inc. is a high-tech semiconductor product manufacturer that includes Intel and IBM among its primary customers. Previously headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, Amkor announced on June 3, 2005, that it had moved to Chandler, Arizona...
– AMericanKORea - Amiga CorporationAmiga CorporationAmiga Corporation was a United States computer company formed in the early 1980s as Hi-Toro. It is most famous for having developed the Amiga computer, code named Lorraine.-History:...
– The original developers of the 16-bit AmigaAmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
computer chose the name, which means a 'female friend' in Spanish and Portuguese, because it sounded friendly, and because it came before rivals (Apple Inc. and AtariAtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
) alphabetically. - AmocoAmocoAmoco Corporation, originally Standard Oil Company , was a global chemical and oil company, founded in 1889 around a refinery located in Whiting, Indiana, United States....
– AMerican Oil COmpany – now part of BPBPBP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"... - AmstradAmstradAmstrad is a British electronics company, now wholly owned by BSkyB. As of 2006, Amstrad's main business is manufacturing Sky Digital interactive boxes....
– Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc was founded by Lord Alan Michael Sugar in the UK. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. - Anheuser-Busch InBevAnheuser-Busch InBevAnheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
– Formed by the 2008 purchase of Anheuser-BuschAnheuser-BuschAnheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
by InBevInBevInBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
. Anheuser-Busch was named for the company's original founder, Eberhard AnheuserEberhard AnheuserEberhard Anheuser was a German-born soap and candle maker as well as the father-in-law of Adolphus Busch, the founder of the Anheuser-Busch Company. He and two of his brothers moved to America in 1842. He was a major creditor of the Bavarian Brewery Company, a struggling brewery founded in 1853...
, and his later partner Adolphus BuschAdolphus BuschColonel Adolphus Busch was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. His great-great-grandson, August Busch IV is now on the board of Anheuser-Busch InBev.-Biography:...
. - Antrix CorporationAntrix CorporationAntrix Corporation Limited is commercial wing of Indian Space Research Organization . The name "Antrix" is an anglicized version of Antariksh, from the Sanskrit word for "space" or "sky".-Products and services:...
Limited — The business and marketing arm of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The name "Antrix" is an anglicized version of Antariksh, from the Sanskrit word for "space" or "sky". - AOLAOLAOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
– from America Online. The company was founded in 1983 as Quantum Computer Services. - ApacheApache Software FoundationThe Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...
– according to the project's 1997 FAQ: "The Apache group was formed around a number of people who provided patch files that had been written for NCSA httpd 1.3. The result after combining them was A PAtCHy server." - Apple – For the favorite fruit of co-founder Steve JobsSteve JobsSteven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
and/or for the time he worked at an apple orchard, and to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by other computer companies at the time – which had names such as IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, DECDigital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
, and CincomCincomCincom Systems is a privately held, multinational, computer technology corporation founded in 1968 by Tom Nies, Tom Richley and Claude Bogardus.... - Apricot ComputersApricot ComputersApricot Computers is a British manufacturer of business personal computers, originally founded in 1965 as "Applied Computer Techniques" , changing its name to Apricot Computers, Ltd. in the 1980s...
– early UK-based microcomputer company founded by ACT (Applied Computer Techniques), a business software and services supplier. The company wanted a "fruity" name (Apple and Acorn were popular brands) that included the letters A, C and T. Apricot fit the bill. - Arby'sArby'sArby's is a fast food restaurant chain in the United States and Canada. Roark Capital Group owns 81.5% of the company, with Wendy's Company owning the other 18.5%. It is primarily known for selling roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. The Arby's menu also includes chicken sandwiches, appetizers,...
– the enunciation of the initials of its founders, the Raffel Brothers. The partners wanted to use the name Big Tex, but were unsuccessful in negotiating with the Akron businessman who was already using the name. So, Forrest said, "We came up with Arby's, which stands for R.B., the initials of Raffel Brothers, although I guess customers might think the initials stand for roast beef." - ArcelorArcelorArcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004...
– created in 2001 by a merger of ArbedArbedARBED was a major Luxembourg-based steel and iron producing company. Created in 1911 after the merger of three steel producing companies, ARBED was a major actor in the economic history of the Grand-Duchy until it merged in 2002 with two other European steel companies to create Arcelor.- Origins ...
(Luxembourg), AceraliaAceraliaAceralia was a large Spanish steel producer formed in 1997 by restructuring of a group formed from earlier mergers of the steel producers ENSIDESA and Altos Hornos de Vizcaya....
(Spain) and UsinorUsinorUsinor was a French steel making group formed in 1948. The group was merged with Sacilor in 1986, becoming Usinor-Sacilor and was privatised in 1995, and renamed Usinor in 1997....
(France) with the ambition of becoming a major player in the steel industry. - AREVAArevaAREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...
– named from the region of ÁvilaÁvila (province)Ávila is a province of central-western Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered on the south by the provinces of Toledo and Cáceres, on the west by Salamanca, on the north by Valladolid, and on the east by Segovia and Madrid. Ávila has a...
in northern Spain, location of the Arevalo abbey. Arevalo was shorted to AREVA. - AricentAricentAricent Group is a global innovation and technology services company. The company develops software and provides technology services to application, infrastructure, and service providers with operations in 19 countries worldwide....
– communications software company name created in 2006 by combining two words "arise" and "ascent". - ARM Limited – named after the microprocessor developed by small UK company Acorn as a successor to the 6502 used in its BBC Microcomputer. ARM originally stood for Acorn Risc Machine. When the company was spun off with backing from Apple and VTI, this was changed to Advanced Risc Machines.
- Arm & HammerArm & HammerArm & Hammer is a registered trademark of Church and Dwight, an American manufacturer of household products. The logo of this brand is a muscular arm holding a hammer...
– based on the arm and hammer of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking. It was previously the logo of the Vulcan Spice Mills in Brooklyn. When James Church, the son of Church & Dwight founder Austin Church, came to Church and Dwight from Vulcan Spice Mills, he brought the logo with him. - ARPARP Instruments, Inc.ARP Instruments, Inc. was an American manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. Best known for its line of synthesizers that emerged in the early 1970s, ARP closed its doors in 1981 due to financial difficulties...
– company that made analog synthesizers in the 1970s, named after founder Alan Robert Pearlman. - Artis (zoo in Amsterdam) – from the Latin phrase, Natura Artis Magistra, or Nature is Art's Teacher
- AsdaAsdaAsda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
– Asda Stores Limited was founded as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd in 1949. However the formation of the Asda name occurred in 1965 with the merger of the Asquith chain of three supermarkets and Associated Dairies; Asda is an abbreviation of Asquith and Dairies, a large UK supermarket chain that is now a subsidiary of Wal-MartWal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
. - ASICSASICSASICS is a Japanese athletic equipment company. ASICS produces professional footwear and sports equipment designed for football, running, netball, tennis, badminton, squash, martial arts, cricket, golf, wrestling, track & field, cross-training, volleyball, cheerleading, lacrosse, and for many other...
– an acronym for Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, which, translated from Latin, means "Healthy soul in a healthy body". Originally the citation is mens sana in corpore sano, but MSICS does not sound as good. - Ask.comAsk.comAsk is a Q&A focused search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California. The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine...
– search engine formerly named after JeevesJeevesReginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
, the gentleman's gentleman (valetValetValet and varlet are terms for male servants who serve as personal attendants to their employer.- Word origins :In the Middle Ages, the valet de chambre to a ruler was a prestigious appointment for young men...
, not butlerButlerA butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
) in P. G. WodehouseP. G. WodehouseSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
's series of books. Ask Jeeves was shortened to Ask in 2006. - AsusASUSASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...
– named after PegasusPegasusPegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...
, the winged horse of Greek mythology. The first three letters of the word were dropped to get a high position in alphabetical listings. An Asus company named Pegatron, using the spare letters, was spun off in 2008. - Aston MartinAston MartinAston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
– from the "Aston Hill" races (near Aston ClintonAston ClintonAston Clinton is a village and civil parish close to the main A41 road in Buckinghamshire, England between Tring and Aylesbury. The parish covers and is about east of Aylesbury. The village is at the foot of the chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills at the junction of the pre-historic track the...
) where the company was founded, and the surname of Lionel Martin, the company's founder. - AT&TAT&TAT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
– the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation officially changed its name to AT&T in the 1990s. - AtariAtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
– named from the board game GoGo (board game)Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...
. "Atari" is a Japanese word to describe a position where an opponent's stones are in danger of being captured. It is similar, though not identical, to "check" in chess. The original games company was American but wanted a Japanese-sounding name. - ATIATI TechnologiesATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
– Array Technologies Incorporated - ATSATS (wheels)ATS was a German Formula One team, named after German alloy wheel brand Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör. The company is based in Bad Dürkheim near the Hockenheimring, its team was active in Formula One from 1977 to 1984.-Wheel manufacturer:...
– Auto Technik Spezialerzeugnisse, a German company producing light alloy wheels and motor parts, which ran its own Formula 1 racing team in the late 1970s and early 1980s. - AudiAudiAudi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....
– Latin translation of the German name "Horch". The founder August HorchAugust HorchAugust Horch was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, the founder of the manufacturing giant which would eventually become Audi.-Beginnings:...
left the company after five years, but still wanted to manufacture cars. Since the original "Horch" company was still there, he called his new company Audi, the Latin form of his last name. In English it is "hark".
B
- B&H Photo VideoB&H Photo VideoB&H Photo Video, founded in 1973 and located at 420 Ninth Avenue on the corner of West 34th Street in Manhattan, New York City, is the largest non-chain photo and video equipment store in the United States.-Overview:...
– Blimie Schreiber and her husband, company founder Herman Schreiber. - B&QB&QB&Q plc is a multinational DIY and home improvement retailer headquartered in Eastleigh, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1969 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kingfisher plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange....
– from the initials of its founders, Richard Block and David Quayle - BabolatBabolatBabolat is a French tennis, badminton and squash equipment company, best known for its strings and tennis racquets which are used by several top players such as Li Na, Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, Fernando González, Igor Andreev, Fabio Fognini, Leander Paes, Nicolás Lapentti,...
– named for its founder, Pierre Babolat - BahcoBahcoBahco is an international brand within the hand tool industry, with its products designed and manufactured by SNA Europe. Its roots go back to the industrial revolution of Sweden in the late eighteen hundreds, starting with innovations such as the pipe wrench and the modern adjustable wrench...
– from the name B.A. Hjort & Company. Founder Berndt August Hjort signed a deal to distribute the tools of inventor Johan Petter JohanssonJohan Petter JohanssonJohan Petter Johansson , sometimes known as JP, was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. He invented a modern adjustable spanner . He obtained over 100 patents in total....
. - Bang & OlufsenBang & OlufsenBang & Olufsen is a Danish company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets and telephones. It was founded in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, whose first significant product was a radio that worked with alternating current, when most radios were run from batteries...
– from the names of its founders, Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, who met at a School of Engineering in Denmark. - Bally – originally Lion Manufacturing, the company changed its name to Bally after the success of its first popular pinball machine, Ballyhoo.
- BanestoBanestoBanesto is a Spanish bank, 88.4% owned by Banco Santander. Currently Banesto is the fifth-largest banking group in Spain, operating around 1,770 branches....
– from Banco Español de Crédito (Spanish Credit Bank) - BAPE – A Bathing Ape is a cult clothing company founded by Tomoaki "Nigo" NagaoNigois a Japanese music producer, DJ and the creator of the urban clothing line A Bathing Ape, otherwise known as Bape.-Fashion background:Nigo's venture into fashion started in a small store selling a few Bape t-shirts and camouflage print hoodies, which became very popular among the teen demographic...
in 1993. The name is derived from a Japanese saying, "A Bathing Ape In Lukewarm Water", which Nigo says is "a reference to the young generation being spoiled, pampered and too complacent." - BASFBASFBASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...
– from Badische Anilin und Soda Fabriken. Anilin and Soda were the first products. Badisch refers to the location in the state of Baden, Germany (Black Forest region). - Bauknecht – founded as an electrotechnical workshopWorkshopA workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
in 1919 by Gottlob Bauknecht, and now a WhirlpoolWhirlpoolA whirlpool is a swirling body of water usually produced by ocean tides. The vast majority of whirlpools are not very powerful. More powerful ones are more properly termed maelstroms. Vortex is the proper term for any whirlpool that has a downdraft...
brand. - BayerBayerBayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...
– named after Friedrich Bayer, who founded the company in 1863. - BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
– British Broadcasting Corporation, originally British Broadcasting CompanyBritish Broadcasting CompanyThe British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom and licensed by the British General Post Office...
. - BBVABanco Bilbao Vizcaya ArgentariaBanco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. is a multinational Spanish banking group. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria, both of which in turn had previously amalgamated three important banks in Spain, namely Banco de Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya, Banco Exterior de...
– Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, a Spanish banking group formed in 1999 from the merger of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria. - BCC ResearchBCC ResearchBCC Research is a publisher of technology market research reports and reviews, and of technical newsletters; it also does custom research.The company is an offshoot of Eli Research, owned and operated by Greg Lindberg. BCC Research was formerly known as Business Communications Company, Inc. and was...
– from the company's former name, Business Communications Company. - BEA SystemsBEA SystemsBEA Systems, Inc. specialized in enterprise infrastructure software products known as "middleware", which connect software applications to databases and was acquired by Oracle Corporation on April 29, 2008.- History :...
– from the first initial of each of the company's three founders: Bill Coleman, Ed Scott and Alfred Chuang. - BEMLBEMLBharat Earth Movers Limited now known as BEML is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, with headquarters in Bangalore. It manufactures a variety of heavy equipment, such as that used for earth moving, transport and mining....
– Bharat Earth Movers Limited, a government of India company. - Ben & Jerry'sBen & Jerry'sBen & Jerry's is an American ice cream company, a division of the British-Dutch Unilever conglomerate, that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, United...
– named after Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who founded an ice cream parlor in 1978 after completing a correspondence course on ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University. The company, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc. was later taken over by UnileverUnileverUnilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
. - BenQBenQBenQ Corporation is a Taiwanese multi-national company that sells and markets consumer electronics, computing and communications devices under the "BenQ" brand name, which stands for the company slogan Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life .- Company :BenQ sells and markets technology products,...
– Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life - BHPBHP BillitonBHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
– Broken Hill Proprietary, named after the town of Broken Hill, where BHP was founded (now BHP Billiton) - BIC CorporationSociété BicSociété Bic is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, by Baron Marcel Bich known for making disposable products including lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, shaving razors and watersports products. It competes in most markets against Faber-Castell, Global Gillette, Newell Rubbermaid...
– the pen company was named after one of its founders, Marcel Bich. He dropped the final h to avoid a potentially inappropriate English pronunciation of the name. - Black & DeckerBlack & DeckerBlack & Decker Corporation is a corporation based in Towson, Maryland, United States, that designs and imports power tools and accessories, hardware and home improvement products, and technology based fastening systems...
– named after founders S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker. - BlaupunktBlaupunktGmbH is a German manufacturer of electronics equipment, noted for its home and car audio equipment. It was a 100% subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH until March 1st, 2009 when its Aftermarket and Accessories branch including the brand name were sold to Aurelius AG of Germany for an undisclosed...
– Blaupunkt ("Blue dot") was founded in 1923 under the name "Ideal". Its core business was the manufacturing of headphones. If the headphones came through quality tests, the company would give the headphones a blue dot. The headphones quickly became known as the blue dots or blaue Punkte. The quality symbol would become a trademark and the trademark would become the company name in 1938. - BMWBMWBayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
– Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works). - BoeingBoeingThe Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
– named after founder William E. Boeing. It was originally called Pacific Aero Products Co. - BoschRobert Bosch GmbHRobert Bosch GmbH is a multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. It is the world's largest supplier of automotive components...
– named after founder Robert Bosch. Robert Bosch GmbH (full company name) is a German diversified technology-based corporation. - Bose Corporation – named after founder Amar BoseAmar BoseAmar Gopal Bose is an Bengali American electrical engineer, sound engineer and billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Bose Corporation...
. - BSNLBharat Sanchar Nigam LimitedBharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is a state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is the largest provider of fixed telephony and fourth largest mobile telephony provider in India, and is also a provider of broadband services...
– from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (India Communications Corporation Limited). - BPBPBP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
– formerly British Petroleum, now BP. (The slogan "Beyond Petroleum" has incorrectly been taken to refer to the company's new name following its rebranding effort in 2000.) - BRACBRAC (NGO)BRAC, based in Bangladesh, is the world's largest non-governmental development organization. Established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC is present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, with over 7 million microfinance group members, 37,500 non-formal...
– Bangladesh Rural & Advancement Committee, world's largest NGO (non governmental organization). - BridgestoneBridgestoneThe is a multinational rubber conglomerate founded in 1931 by in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi, meaning "stone bridge" in Japanese....
– named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi (石橋) means "stone bridge", or "bridge of stone". - Brine, Corp. – sporting goods company named after founder, W.H. Brine. It was taken over by New BalanceNew BalanceNew Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. , best known as simply New Balance, is a footwear manufacturer based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. It was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch Support Company...
in 2006. - Brooks Sports – an anglicized version of Bruchs, the maiden name of the wife of founder Morris Goldenberg.
- BSABirmingham Small Arms CompanyThis article is not about Gamo subsidiary BSA Guns Limited of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B11 2PP or BSA Company or its successors....
– Birmingham Small Arms Company. - BTBT GroupBT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
– formerly British Telecom (from BT Group, formerly British Telecommunications plc.) - BuickBuickBuick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
– Named for its founder, David Dunbar BuickDavid Dunbar BuickDavid Dunbar Buick was a Scottish-born Detroit inventor, best known for founding the Buick Motor Company...
. The company was the original focal point for General MotorsGeneral MotorsGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, established in 1908 as a holding company for Buick plus other companies acquired by William C. DurantWilliam C. DurantWilliam Crapo "Billy" Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, the founder of General Motors and Chevrolet who created the system of multi-brand holding companies with different lines of cars....
. Buick survives to this day as a GM brand. - BullGroupe Bull-External links:* * — Friends, co-workers and former employees of Bull and Honeywell* *...
– Compagnie des machines Bull was founded in Paris to exploit the patents for punched card machines taken out by Norwegian engineer Fredrik Rosing BullFredrik Rosing BullFredrik Rosing Bull was an Information technology pioneer, known for his works on improved punched card machines....
. - Burroughs Corporation – founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company and later renamed after the adding machine invented by William Seward BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs IWilliam Seward Burroughs I was an American inventor born in Rochester, New York.Burroughs was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood. While he was still a small boy, his parents moved to Auburn, New York, where he and his brothers were educated in the public school...
. The company took over Sperry CorporationSperry CorporationSperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the twentieth century...
and became UnisysUnisysUnisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:...
. - BultacoBultacoBultaco was a Spanish manufacturer of two-stroke motorcycles from 1958 to 1983.-Origins:The origin of the Bultaco motorcycle company dates back to May 1958. Francisco "Paco" Bultó was a director of the Montesa motorcycle company founded in 1944. After several years of steady growth and road racing...
– Spanish company of motorcycles, which disappeared in the 1980s. Its name is based on the name of its founder, Paco Bultó. - BHEL – Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, a government of India company.
C
- CA – Computer Associates was founded in 1976 as Computer Associates International, Inc. by Charles WangCharles WangCharles B. Wang is the co-founder of Computer Associates International, Inc. and owner of the New York Islanders ice hockey team and their AHL affiliates, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers....
- C&AC&AC&A is an international chain of fashion retail clothing stores, with its European head offices in Vilvoorde , Belgium and Düsseldorf, Germany...
– named after the brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, who founded a textile company called C&A in the Netherlands in 1841. - CadillacCadillacCadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
– named after the 18th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de CadillacAntoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de CadillacAntoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac was a French explorer and adventurer in New France, now an area of North America stretching from Eastern Canada in the north to Louisiana in the south. Rising from a modest beginning in Acadia in 1683 as an explorer, trapper, and a trader of alcohol...
, founder of Detroit, Michigan. CadillacCadillac, GirondeCadillac is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Geography:Cadillac is directly across the Garonne river from Sauternes, and is known for producing sweet dessert wines under the Cadillac AOC designation.-History:...
is a small town in the South of FranceSouthern FranceSouthern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...
. The company, founded in 1902, was purchased by General Motors in 1909 and survives to this day as a GM brand. - CAECAE (company)CAE Inc. is a leading provider of simulation technologies, modelling technologies and integrated training services to airlines, aircraft manufacturers, and defense customers worldwide. The company has annual revenues in excess of CAD $1.6 billion, with manufacturing operations and training...
– originally Canadian Aviation Electronics - CampagnoloCampagnoloCampagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of high-end bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. The components are organised as groupsets and are a near-complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's flagship components are the Super Record, Record, and Chorus...
– from the name of its founder, Tullio CampagnoloTullio CampagnoloGentullio Campagnolo was an Italian racing cyclist and inventor. He patented the quick release skewer and founded the Campagnolo bicycle component company....
. - Canon – Originally (1933) Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory the new name (1935) derived from the name of the company's first camera, the Kwanon, in turn named after the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattvaBodhisattvaIn Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
of mercy. - CapraboCapraboCaprabo is a leading supermarket company in Spain,with supermarkets and hypermarkets in Mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. It operates an online shopping and delivery service in Spain....
– Catalan supermarkets, founded by Carbó, Prats and Bonet. - CarrefourCarrefourCarrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...
– chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets which started with a store near a crossroads (carrefour in French) in Annecy. - CaterpillarCaterpillar Inc.Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...
– Originally Holt Tractor Co, merged with Best Tractor Co. in 1925. A company photographer exclaimed aloud of a Holt tractor that the tracks' movement resembled a caterpillar moving along the ground. The name stuck. - Cathay Pacific Airways Limited – The airline was founded on 24 September 1946 by American Roy C. Farrell and Australian Sydney H. de Kantzow, with each man putting up HK$1 to register the airline. They named it Cathay Pacific because Cathay was the ancient name given to China; and Pacific because Farrell speculated that they would one day fly across the Pacific.
- CasioCasiois a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
– from the name of its founder, Kashio Tadao, who had set up the company Kashio Seisakujo as a subcontractor factory. - CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
– Columbia Broadcasting System - CDACCDACCDAC may refer to:*Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada*Canadian American Railroad*Centre for Development of Advanced Computing* Chinese Development Assistance Council, a self-help and non-profit organization set up by the Chinese community in Singapore to help the lower-income group and...
– Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, a government of India company. - Celera – inspired by ‘celerity’ or swiftness (in decoding the human genome), with "era of the cell" a secondary meaning.
- CenexCenexCenex, or the Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon & Fuel Cell Technologies, is a UK industry-led public-private partnership, i.e. a UK government initiative set up and supported by the Department of Trade and Industry...
– short for Central Exchange - CGI GroupCGI GroupCGI Group Inc. is an information technology management and business process services company. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Montreal, Canada, CGI employs approximately 31,000 professionals in over 125 offices in 16 countries. As of September 2010, CGI had an annual revenue of CA $3.7...
– from the first letters of Information Management Consultant in French (Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique). - ChevroletChevroletChevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
– named after company co-founder Louis ChevroletLouis ChevroletLouis-Joseph Chevrolet was a Swiss-born American race car driver of French descent, co-founder of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911 and later, the Frontenac Motor Corporation in 1916 which made racing parts for Ford's Model T.-Early life:Born in 1878 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a center of...
, a Swiss-born auto racer. The company was merged into General Motors in 1917 and survives only as a brand name. - ChelloChellochello is the brand of internet service provider-activities of Liberty Global Europe , a provider of broadband internet access via cable in Europe, with estimated 1.3 million customers across its markets. LGE operates in 15 European, 4 Latin American and 2 Asian/Pacific countries...
– a Dutch internet service provider, its name was originally pronounced 'say hello' (in Dutch the letter C at the beginning of a word is pronounced 'say'). This did not catch on and now it is pronounced "cello" (as in the stringed instrument). - ChryslerChryslerChrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
– named after the company founder, Walter P. Chrysler. - Ciba GeigyNovartisNovartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
– CIBA, named from Chemical Industry Basel (after BaselBaselBasel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
in Switzerland), merged with a company named after its founder Johann Rudolf Geigy-Merian. It became NovartisNovartisNovartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
(below) after a merger with SandozSandozFounded in 2003, Sandoz presently is the generic drug subsidiary of Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company. The company develops, manufactures and markets generic drugs as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnological active ingredients....
. - CiCi's PizzaCiCi's PizzaCiCi's Pizza is an American buffet restaurant chain based in Coppell, Texas, specializing in pizza. There are approximately 600 franchised and corporately owned restaurants in 35 states...
– from the first letters of the last names of the founders of the franchise (Joe Croce and Mike Cole). - CignaCIGNACigna , headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut, is a global health services company, owing to its expanding international footprint and the fact that it provides administrative services only to approximately 80 percent of its clients...
– CIGNA was formed in 1982 through the combination of Insurance Company of North America (INA) and Connecticut General (CG). The name is combination of the letters of the predecessor companies, CG and INA. - CincomCincomCincom Systems is a privately held, multinational, computer technology corporation founded in 1968 by Tom Nies, Tom Richley and Claude Bogardus....
– originally called United Computer Systems, which was similar to several other software and services companies of the day. Two of the three founders visited Philco (Philadelphia Company), and this inspired them to create a new company name derived from Cincinnati (where it was based) and Computer (its business). - CiscoCisco SystemsCisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
– short for San Francisco. - CitroënCitroënCitroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
– named after André-Gustave Citroën (1878–1935), a French entrepreneur of Dutch descent. He was the fifth and last child of the Dutch Jewish diamond merchant Levie Citroen and Mazra Kleinmann (of Warsaw, Poland). The Citroen family moved to Paris from Amsterdam in 1873 where the name changed to Citroën. - CKX, Inc.CKX, Inc.CKX, Inc. is a company founded on February 7, 2005 that owns and develops entertainment content and intellectual property.-Background:The "C" and "K" stand for "Content is King", representing the focus of the company's business strategy to acquire established content, and then to improve, enhance...
– named from "Content is King", with the X from founder Robert F.X. SillermanRobert F.X. SillermanRobert FX Sillerman is an American businessman and media entrepreneur. Once on the Forbes 400 list, he also briefly owned the WLAF's New York/New Jersey Knights.-Biography:He grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx...
. Other Sillerman companies include SFX Entertainment and FXM Asset Management. - Coca-ColaCoca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
– derived from the coca leavesCocaCoca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
and kola nutKola nutKola Nut is the nut of the kola tree, a genus of trees native to the tropical rainforests of Africa, classified in the family Malvaceae, subfamily Sterculioideae . It is related to the South American genus Theobroma, or cocoa...
s used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' to make the name look better. - ColecoColecoColeco is an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and...
– began as the Connecticut Leather Company. - Colgate-PalmoliveColgate-PalmoliveColgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
– formed from a merger of soap manufacturers Colgate & Company and Palmolive-Peet. Peet was dropped in 1953. Colgate was named after William Colgate, an English immigrant, who set up a starch, soap and candle business in New York City in 1806. Palmolive was named for the two oils (Palm and Olive) used in its manufacture. - COLTCOLT Telecom GroupColt Technology Services is a telecommunications, IT managed services and data centre services company providing services to city-based large enterprise, small and midsize business and wholesale carriers throughout 21 countries in Europe...
– from City Of London Telecom - ComcastComcastComcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
– from communications and broadcast. - CompaqCompaqCompaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
– from computer and "pack" to denote a small integral object; or: Compatibility And Quality; or: from the company's first product, the very compact Compaq PortableCompaq PortableThe Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq Computer Corporation brand . It was the first IBM PC compatible portable computer...
. - COMSATCOMSATThe Communications Satellite Corporation is a global telecommunications company, based in the USA, and with branches in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and several other countries in the Americas. It is present also in Turkey...
– a contraction of communications satellites. This American digital telecommunications and satelliteSatelliteIn the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
company was founded during the era of U.S. President John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
era to develop the technology. - ConocoPhillipsConocoPhillipsConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States...
– formed from the merger of Conoco (from Continental Oil Company) and the Phillips Petroleum Company. - CopersucarCopersucarCopersucar S.A. is the biggest Brazilian sugar and ethanol company and one of the most important exporters worldwide. In its 50 years of activities, the company reached the number of 34 operating mills in the states of São Paulo, Paraná and Minas Gerais...
– BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian production cooperativeCooperativeA cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
in sugar and alcohol, its name is a contraction of Cooperativa de Açucar e Álcool. - Corel – from Cowpland Research Laboratory, after the name of the company's founder, Dr. Michael CowplandMichael CowplandMichael Cowpland is a British-born entrepreneur, businessman, and the founder and one-time president, chairman and CEO of Corel, a Canadian software company.-Early life:...
. - CosworthCosworthCosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...
– automotive engineering company named after company founders Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth. - CPFLCompanhia Paulista de Força e LuzCompanhia Paulista de Força e Luz - CPFL Energia is the largest non state-owned group of electric energy generation and distribution in Brazil and the third biggest brazilian utility company, after Eletrobras and CEMIG. The corporation is composed by CPFL Brasil, CPFL Piratininga, CPFL Paulista,...
– Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz (São PauloSão PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
Company of Light and Power), one of the largest in Brazil, based in CampinasCampinasCampinas is a city and municipality located in the coastal interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. is the administrative center of the meso-region of the same name, with 3,783,597 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census, consisting of 49 cities....
. - Crabtree & EvelynCrabtree & EvelynCrabtree & Evelyn is an American retailer of body and home products with stores globally. According to its website, Crabtree & Evelyn uses over 160 “natural botanical ingredients” in its skin care products. It is wholly owned by KLK, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad., a Malaysian company that also owns...
– toiletry company named after gardener John EvelynJohn EvelynJohn Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
, and the tree that bears CrabappleCrabappleCrabapple is a term used for several species of Malus in the family Rosaceae, which are characterized by small sour fruit resembling familiar table apples . They are usually small trees or shrubs....
s - CrayCrayCray Inc. is an American supercomputer manufacturer based in Seattle, Washington. The company's predecessor, Cray Research, Inc. , was founded in 1972 by computer designer Seymour Cray. Seymour Cray went on to form the spin-off Cray Computer Corporation , in 1989, which went bankrupt in 1995,...
– supercomputer company named after its founder, Seymour CraySeymour CraySeymour Roger Cray was an American electrical engineer and supercomputer architect who designed a series of computers that were the fastest in the world for decades, and founded Cray Research which would build many of these machines. Called "the father of supercomputing," Cray has been credited...
. - CRC PressCRC PressThe CRC Press, LLC is a publishing group which specializes in producing technical books. While many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics, their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information technology...
– originally Chemical Rubber Company - CromemcoCromemcoCromemco was a Mountain View, California microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80-based S-100 bus computers in the early days of the home computer revolution. The Cromemco Dazzler was the first color graphics card available for personal computers....
– early microcomputer company in Silicon Valley (circa 1975–198?) founded by two PhD students who once lived at Stanford University's Crothers Memorial Hall (a dormitory). - CutcoCutcoCutco Corporation, formerly Alcas Corporation, is the parent company of CUTCO Cutlery Corp., Vector Marketing, KA-BAR Knives Inc. and Schilling Forge. Its primary brand is also the name Cutco....
– Cooking Utensils Company. - CVS – originally Consumer Value Stores. CEO Tom Ryan has said he now considers 'CVS' to stand for "Customer, Value, and Service".
D
- DaewooDaewooDaewoo or the Daewoo Group was a major South Korean chaebol . It was founded on 22 March 1967 as Daewoo Industrial and was dismantled by the Korean government in 1999...
– company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great House" or "Great Universe" in KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
. - DAF TrucksDAF TrucksDAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...
– from 1932 the company's name was Van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek (Van Doorne's Trailer Factory). In 1949 the company started making trucks, trailers and buses and changed the name into Van Doorne's Automobiel Fabriek (Van Doorne's Automobile Factory). - Daihatsu – the first kanjiKanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
from "Osaka" (大坂, the kanji is here pronounced dai) and "engine" (発動機, the first kanji is hatsu). Engine manufacturers were listed on the Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges, and their names shortened to the first kanji. (The company listed on the Tokyo exchange is TohatsuTohatsuThe Tohatsu Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, was founded in 1922. It manufactures and sells outboard motors, pleasure boats, portable fire pumps, small fire trucks, pumps for construction and drainage, refrigeration units for transportation and also does real estate property management in Japan.The...
.) - DanoneGroupe DanoneGroupe Danone is a French food-products multinational corporation based in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It claims world leadership in fresh dairy products, marketed under the corporate name, and also in bottled water...
(Dannon in the U.S.) – Isaac Carasso in Barcelona made his first yoghourts with the nickname of his first son Daniel (DAN-ONE) - DatsunDatsunDatsun was an automobile marque. The name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model, spelling it as "Datson" to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. Later, in 1933 after Nissan Motor Co., Ltd...
– first called DAT, from the initials of its financiers Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. Soon changed to DATSON to imply a smaller version of their original car, then (as SON can mean "loss" in Japanese) again to DATSUN when they were acquired by Nissan. - DebianDebianDebian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
– project founder Ian Murdock named it after himself and his girlfriend, Debra. - DECDigital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
– Digital Equipment Corporation, a pioneering American minicomputer manufacturer founded by Ken OlsenKen OlsenKenneth Harry Olsen was an American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation in 1957 with colleague Harlan Anderson.-Background:...
and taken over by Compaq, before Compaq was merged into Hewlett-Packard (HP). It was generally called DEC ("deck"), but later tried to rebrand itself as Digital. - DEKADEKADEKA Research and Development Corporation is a company based in New Hampshire, founded in 1982 by Dean Kamen, consisting of nearly 200 engineers, technicians, and support staff...
– named after its founder Dean Kamen, developer of the Segway, iBOT, HomeChoice Dialysis and other products. - DelhaizeDelhaize GroupDelhaize Group is a food retailer headquartered in Belgium which operates in eight countries and on three continents. The principal activity of Delhaize Group is the operation of food supermarkets.-History:Delhaize Group was founded in Belgium in 1867....
– named after its founders, Jules Delhaize and his brothers, who originated from Charleroi (Belgium). They opened the first European self-service "supermarket" in Ixelles/Elsene, a Brussels borough. - DellDellDell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
– named after its founder, Michael DellMichael DellMichael Saul Dell is an American business magnate and the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Inc. He is the 44th richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$14.6 billion in 2011, based primarily on the 243.35 million shares of Dell stock worth $3.5 billion that he owns,...
. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003. - Denning & Fourcade, Inc.Denning & Fourcade, Inc.Robert Denning & Vincent Fourcade, Inc. was an interior design firm which for over forty years was a leader in opulent interiors with offices in New York City and Paris...
– interior designer company named after its founders Robert DenningRobert DenningRobert Denning was an American interior designer whose lush interpretations of French Victorian decor became an emblem of corporate raider tastes in the 1980s.-Early life:...
and Vincent FourcadeVincent FourcadeVincent Gabriel Fourcade was a French interior designer and the business and life partner of Robert Denning...
in 1960. - DHLDHLDHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
– named after its founders, Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn. - Dick's Sporting GoodsDick's Sporting GoodsDick's Sporting Goods, Inc. , or Dick's, is a Fortune 500 American corporation in the sporting goods and retail industries.The company's headquarters are on the grounds of Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick's has 451 stores in 42 states as of...
– named after its founder, Dick Stack, who opened a bait and tackle shop in 1948 with a $300 gift from his grandmother. - Digg, Inc.DiggDigg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
- Kevin Rose's friend David Prager (The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech) originally wanted to call the site "Diggnation", but Kevin wanted a simpler name. He chose the name "Digg", because users are able to "dig" stories, out of those submitted, up to the front page. The site was called "Digg" instead of "Dig" because the domain name "dig.com" was previously registered, by Walt Disney Internet Group. "Diggnation" would eventually be used as the title of Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht's weekly podcast discussing popular stories from Digg. - Digi-KeyDigi-KeyDigi-Key is the fourth largest electronic component distributor in North America and a broad-line distributor of board level components. It ranks as the 8th largest electronic component distributor in the world. Ronald Stordahl founded the company in 1972 and its name was derived from the digital...
– electronic component distributor whose name is derived from founder Dr. Ronald Stordahl's amateur radio telegraphic keyer, the "IC Keyer Kit", which utilized digital integrated circuits. - The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, named for its co-founder Walt DisneyWalt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
. - DixonsDSG International (retailer)Dixons Retail plc is a British company and one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe. The company operates Dixons.co.uk as well as Dixons Travel, Currys, Currys.digital, PC World and Electro World stores along with many other brands across Europe including: Pixmania, Equanet and...
– commonly-used abbreviation for DSG International plc (Dixons Stores Group), a UK-based retailer. The company was founded in 1937 by Charles Kalms and Michael Mindel. When opening their first photographic shop in Southend, they only had room for six letters on the fascia, and chose the name Dixons from the phone book. - DKNYDKNYDKNY is a label of fashion designer Donna Karan. It is also the name of a clothing store in New York City featuring Donna Karan's associated line.-History:...
– Donna Karan New York. - DowDow Chemical CompanyThe Dow Chemical Company is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization .Dow...
– named after its founder, Herbert Henry DowHerbert Henry DowHerbert Henry Dow was a Canadian born, American chemical industrialist. He is a graduate of Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio. His most significant achievement was the founding of the Dow Chemical Company in 1897...
. - Duane ReadeDuane ReadeDuane Reade Inc., a subsidiary of the Walgreen Company, is a chain of pharmacy and convenience stores, primarily located in New York City, known for its high volume small store layouts in densely populated Manhattan locations...
– named after Duane and Reade Streets in lower Manhattan, where the chain's first warehouse was located. - DynegyDynegyDynegy Inc. , based in Houston, Texas, United States, is a large owner and operator of power plants and a player in the natural gas liquids and coal business...
– the Natural Gas Clearinghouse changed its name in 1998 to reflect its self-described traits as a dynamic energy company. "Dynergy" had already been taken by a German health foods company.
E
- EA GamesElectronic ArtsElectronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
– EA is from Electronic Arts. The company was founded in May 1982 as Amazin' Software and changed its name to Electronic Arts in October the same year. - eBayEBayeBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
– Pierre Omidyar, who had created the Auction Web trading website, had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. "Echo Bay" did not refer to the town in Nevada, "It just sounded cool", Omidyar reportedly said. Echo Bay Mines LimitedEcho Bay Mines LimitedThe Echo Bay Mines Limited company was organized in 1964 to develop a silver deposit at Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, which became known as the Echo Bay Mine. The company leased the old Port Radium settlement from Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited and used the old camp and mill to...
, a gold mining company, had already taken EchoBay.com, so Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com. - EDSElectronic Data SystemsHP Enterprise Services is the global business and technology services division of Hewlett Packard's HP Enterprise Business strategic business unit. It was formed by the combination of HP's legacy services consulting and outsourcing business and the integration of acquired Electronic Data Systems,...
– Electronic Data Systems, founded in 1962 by former IBM salesman Ross PerotRoss PerotHenry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
. According to the company history: "He chose Electronic Data Systems from potential names he scribbled on a pledge envelope during a service at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas." - EidosEidos InteractiveEidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
– named from a Greek word meaning "species". The company became well-known for its Tomb Raider series of games. - EletropauloEletropauloAES Eletropaulo is a major Brazilian power distributor in the state of São Paulo, created in the breakup of the old state-owned power distribution company Eletropaulo that monopolized electricity distribution in São Paulo from 1981 to 1999...
– One of the largest Brazilian companies in electricity generation and distribution, its name derives from Companhia de Electricidade de São Paulo. - EmbraerEmbraerEmbraer S.A. is a Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, and executive aircraft and provides aeronautical services....
– BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian aircraft manufacturer, its name is an abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica (Brazilian Aeronautics Company). - EMBRAPAEmpresa Brasileira de Pesquisa AgropecuáriaThe Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária is a state-owned company affiliated with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, which is devoted to pure and applied research on agriculture. EMBRAPA conducts agricultural research on many topics including animal agriculture and crops...
– Brazilian state agricultural research and development company, its name is an abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Brazilian Agriculture Research Company). - EMBRATELTelmexTelmex is a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and other countries in Latin America. In addition to traditional fixed-line telephone service, Telmex also offers Internet access, data,...
– an abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Telecomunicações (Brazilian Telecommunications Company). Brazil's largest telecommunications company, it was a state monopoly until 1992 when it was privatized and sold to MCIMCI Inc.MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia...
, then later resold to TelmexTelmexTelmex is a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and other countries in Latin America. In addition to traditional fixed-line telephone service, Telmex also offers Internet access, data,...
. - EMC CorporationEMC CorporationEMC Corporation , a Financial Times Global 500, Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, develops, delivers and supports information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure hardware, software, and services. EMC is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.Former Intel executive Richard Egan and his...
– named from the initials of the founders, Richard Egan and Roger Marino. There has long been a rumor that another partner provided the third letter (C). Other reports indicate the C stands for Company. EMC adopted the EMC² notation to refer to Einstein's famous equation, E = mc²Mass-energy equivalenceIn physics, mass–energy equivalence is the concept that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. In this concept, mass is a property of all energy, and energy is a property of all mass, and the two properties are connected by a constant...
. - EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
– formerly Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. - EmporisEmporisEmporis GmbH is a real estate data mining company with headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The company collects and publishes data and photographs of buildings worldwide....
– Empor comes from the German and means "aloft, rising". One of the world's largest providers of data concerning buildings. - EquifaxEquifaxEquifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit...
– Equitable and factual - Ernst & YoungErnst & YoungErnst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
– Named for the company's founders, A.C. Ernst and Arthur Young. - EricssonEricssonEricsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
– Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson is named after its founder Lars Magnus Ericsson, who opened a telegraph equipment repair shop in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1876. - ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
– Entertainment and Sports Programming Network - ESRIESRIEsri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
– Environmental Systems Research Institute, the first geographic information system (GIS) software company founded by Jack and Laura Dangermond in Redlands, California, in 1969 - EpsonSeiko Epson, commonly known as Epson, is a Japanese technology company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers, information and imaging related equipment...
– Epson Seiko Corporation, the Japanese printer and peripheral manufacturer, was named from "Son of Electronic Printer" - EssoEssoEsso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
– the enunciation of the initials S.O. in Standard Oil of New Jersey. - ExxonExxonMobilExxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
– a name contrived by Esso (Standard Oil of New Jersey) in the early 1970s to create a neutral but distinctive label for the company. Within days, Exxon was being called the "double cross company" but this eventually subsided. (Esso is a trademark of ExxonMobil.) Esso had to change its name in the U.S. because of restrictions dating to the 1911 Standard Oil antitrustAntitrustThe United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
decision.
F
- F5 NetworksF5 NetworksF5 Networks, Inc. is a networking appliances company. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and has development and marketing offices worldwide. It originally manufactured and sold some of the very first load balancing products...
– originally F5 Labs – taken from the Fujita scale of ratings for tornado intensity, where F5 is the most intense to be used in normal practice even though the scale can physically describe up to F12 which corresponds to wind velocities of Mach 1.0. - FASForas Áiseanna SaothairAn Foras Áiseanna Saothair , referred to in English as the Training and Employment Authority and commonly known as FÁS , is a state agency in Ireland with responsibility for assisting those seeking employment...
– abbreviation for Foras Áiseanna SaothairForas Áiseanna SaothairAn Foras Áiseanna Saothair , referred to in English as the Training and Employment Authority and commonly known as FÁS , is a state agency in Ireland with responsibility for assisting those seeking employment...
(Labour Facilities Foundation). Fás means grow in Irish. - Facebook – name stems from the colloquial name of books given to newly enrolled students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the US with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.
- Fair Isaac Corporation – named after founders Bill Fair and Earl Isaac.
- FazerFazerFazer is one of the largest corporations in the Finnish food industry.The company was originally founded by Karl Fazer in 1891, as a "French-Russian conditory" in central Helsinki...
– Finnish food company named after its founder, Karl FazerKarl FazerKarl Otto Fazer was a Finnish commercial counselor, businessman, and sport shooter.He was born in Helsinki and died in Jokioinen. He had four children and was the grandfather of Peter Fazer...
. - FCUKFrench Connection (clothing)French Connection is a retailer and wholesaler of fashion clothing and accessories. Founded in 1972 by Stephen Marks it is based in London, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and operates globally....
– French Connection United Kingdom. - FedExFedExFedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
– abbreviation of Federal Express Corporation, the company's original name. - FegimeFegimeFegime, or Fédération Européenne des Grossistes Indépendants en Matériel Electrique is a business alliance. It assists member companies for gaining and fulfilling international contracts...
– abbreviation for "Fédération Européenne des Grossistes Indépendants" (European Federation of Independent Electrical Wholesalers). - FerodoFerodoFerodo is a British brake company based in the High Peak of Derbyshire.-History:It was founded in 1897 by Herbert Froode in Chapel en le Frith, Derbyshire...
– anagram of the name of its founder, Herbert Froode. - FerrariFerrariFerrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
– from the name of its founder, Enzo FerrariEnzo FerrariEnzo Anselmo Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian race car driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer...
. - FiatFiatFIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
– acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin) - FinnairFinnairFinnair Plc is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters on the grounds of Helsinki Airport in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest...
– from "Finland" and "air". Originally called "Aero OsakeyhtiöOsakeyhtiöOsakeyhtiö, literally a "stock company", is the Finnish equivalent of a limited company or Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung . It is abbreviated to Oy and is used either before or after the company's name, sometimes with the addition of the Finland-Swedish equivalent Ab...
", which led to its international flight code, "AY". - FirestoneFirestone Tire and Rubber CompanyThe Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...
– named after its founder, Harvey FirestoneHarvey FirestoneHarvey Samuel Firestone was an American businessman, and the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires.-Family background:...
. - Five GuysFive GuysFive Guys is a fast casual restaurant chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries. Originating in Arlington, Virginia, the company's headquarters are now in Lorton, Virginia.-Food:...
– American restaurant chain founded by "five guys" – Jerry Murrell and his four sons. The "five guys" would later become the Murrell sons, after Jerry and his wife Janie had a fifth son two years after opening their first restaurant. - FlukeFluke CorporationFluke Corporation, a subsidiary of the Danaher Corporation, is a manufacturer of industrial testing equipment including electronic test equipment. It was started in 1948 by John Fluke, Sr., a friend and roommate of David Packard, future co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, when both were employed at...
– named after its founder, John Fluke, Sr. - Ford Motor CompanyFord Motor CompanyFord Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
– named after its founder, Henry FordHenry FordHenry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, who introduced automobile mass production in 1914. - Forrester ResearchForrester ResearchForrester Research is an independent technology and market research company that provides its clients with advice about technology's impact on business and consumers. Forrester Research has five research centers in the US: Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York, New York; San Francisco, California;...
– from the family name of the mother of the founder George Forrester Colony. - FranklinCovey – named after Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and Stephen CoveyStephen CoveyStephen Richards Covey is the author of the best-selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Other books he has written include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families. In 2004, Covey released The 8th Habit...
. The company was formed from the 1997 merger of FranklinQuest and the Covey Leadership Center. - FujiFuji Heavy Industries, or FHI, is a Japanese transportation conglomerate most known for being the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles. It traces its roots to the Nakajima Aircraft Company, a leading supplier of airplanes to the Japanese government during World War II...
– named after Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan.
G
- GarminGarminGarmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
– named after its founders, Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao. - GartnerGartnerGartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
– named after its founder, Gideon Gartner, who left the firm in 1992 to start Giga (named from Gideon Gartner). - Gatti's PizzaGatti's PizzaGatti's Pizza is a Southeastern United States pizza-buffet chain. Gatti's Pizza, founded in 1964 is owned by Blue Sage Capital, a private equity investment firm. The corporate offices are in Austin, Texas.-History:...
– Gatti was the maiden name of Pat Eure, wife of company founder Jim Eure. - GCap MediaGCap MediaGCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
– named after the merger of the GWR Group and Capital Radio Group in May 2005. GWR was launched in 1985 after the merger of Radio West and Wiltshire Radio. - GenentechGenentechGenentech Inc., or Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology corporation, founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. Trailing the founding of Cetus by five years, it was an important step in the evolution of the biotechnology industry...
– from Genetic Engineering Technology. - GEICOGEICOThe Government Employees Insurance Company is an auto insurance company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that as of 2007 provided coverage for more than 10 million motor vehicles owned by more than 9 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance...
– from Government Employees Insurance Company - GerdauGerdauGerdau is the largest producer of long steel in America, with steel mills in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Peru, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. It also holds 40% stake in the Spanish company Sidenor and has a joint...
– Largest producer of long steel in the Americas, named from the surname of the founder: Johannes Heinrich Kaspar Gerdau. - GlaxoGlaxoSmithKlineGlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
– a dried-milk company set up in Bunnythorpe, New Zealand, by Joseph Edward Nathan. The company wanted to use the name "Lacto" but it was similar to some already in use. Glaxo evolved and was registered on 27 October 1906. GlaxoSmithKlineGlaxoSmithKlineGlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
was a 2000 merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline BeechamBeecham (pharmaceutical company)Beecham was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Beecham, after having merged with SmithKline Beckman, merged with GlaxoWellcome to become GlaxoSmithKline .-History:...
. - Glock Ges.m.b.H. – named after its founder, Gaston GlockGaston GlockGaston Glock is an Austrian engineer, and founder of the firearms company Glock. The Glock "safe-action" pistol is well regarded and has often been copied by other companies...
. - GoodyearGoodyear Tire and Rubber CompanyThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
– named after the founder of vulcanization, Charles GoodyearCharles GoodyearCharles Goodyear was an American inventor who developed a process to vulcanize rubber in 1839 -- a method that he perfected while living and working in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1844, and for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844Although...
, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber company was founded by Frank Seiberling in 1898. - GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
– an originally accidental misspelling of the word googolGoogolA googol is the large number 10100, that is, the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros:The term was coined in 1938 by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta , nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner...
and settled upon because google.com was unregistered. Googol was proposed to reflect the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available online. - Grey Global GroupGrey Global GroupGrey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency, whose slogan is providing solutions - with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities — organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin...
– an advertising and marketing agency supposed to have derived its name from the colour of the walls of its first office. - GrouponGrouponGroupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto...
– chief executive Andrew Mason used the derivation as his five-word acceptance speech at the 2011 Webby Awards ceremony: "It's short for group coupon." - GrundigGrundigGrundig AG is a German manufacturer of consumer electronics for home entertainment which transferred to Turkish control in 2004-2007. Established in 1945 in Nuremberg by Max Grundig, the company changed hands several times before becoming part of the Turkish Koç Holding group...
– named after its founder, radio dealer-turned-manufacturer Max GrundigMax GrundigMax Grundig was the founder of electronics company Grundig AG. He was raised by his parents in Nuernberg where he delayed his final school exams and completed training as an electrician. In 1930 he and a colleague opened a store selling radios under the name Fuerth, Grundig & Wurzer , generating...
, in 1945. - Gulfstream AerospaceGulfstream AerospaceGulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of jet aircraft. Gulfstream has been a unit of General Dynamics since 1999.The company has produced more than 1,500 aircraft for corporate, government, private, and military customers around the world...
– named after the Gulf StreamGulf StreamThe Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...
current that starts in the Gulf of Mexico and crosses the Atlantic. The company traces its origins to the Grumman Aircraft Engineering CorporationGrumman Aircraft Engineering CorporationThe Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U.S. producer of military and civilian aircraft...
, which was sold and renamed in 1985.
H
- Häagen-DazsHäagen-DazsHäagen-Dazs is a brand of ice cream, established by Jewish-Polish immigrants Reuben and Rose Mattus in the Bronx, New York, in 1961. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, New York, on November 15, 1976...
– Name was invented in 1961 by ice-cream makers Reuben and Rose MattusReuben and Rose MattusReuben and Rose Mattus were Polish American entrepreneurs who founded the Häagen-Dazs ice cream business.Rose Mattus was born as Rose Vesel into a tailoring family who made theatrical costumes in Manchester. Her Jewish parents had come from Poland...
of the Bronx "to convey an aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship". The name has no meaning. - HaierHaierHaier Group is a multinational consumer electronics and home appliances company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China. Its products include air conditioners, mobile phones, computers, microwave ovens, washing machines, refrigerators, and televisions...
– Chinese 海 "sea" and 尔 (a transliterationTransliterationTransliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
character; also means "you" in Literary Chinese). Portion of transliteration of German Liebherr 利勃海尔. - H&MH&MH & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
– named from Hennes & Mauritz. In 1947, Swedish businessman Erling Persson established Hennes, a ladies' clothing store, in Västerås, Sweden. "Hennes" is Swedish for "hers". In 1968, Persson bought the Stockholm premises and inventory of a hunting equipment store called Mauritz Widforss. The inventory included a collection of men's clothing, which prompted Persson to expand into menswear. - Happy MadisonHappy MadisonHappy Madison Productions is an American film/television production company founded by actor/comedian Adam Sandler in 1999 that is best known for comedy films. Happy Madison takes its name from the films Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, two box office successes starring Sandler himself, both...
Productions – film and TV production company founded by Adam Sandler, its name is taken from the films Happy GilmoreHappy GilmoreHappy Gilmore is a 1996 sports comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and produced by Robert Simonds for Universal Studios. It stars Adam Sandler as the title character, an unsuccessful ice hockey player who discovers a talent for golf. The screenplay was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy...
and Billy MadisonBilly MadisonBilly Madison is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Tamra Davis and starring Adam Sandler, in the title role, Bradley Whitford, Bridgette Wilson, Norm Macdonald and Darren McGavin. The film was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and produced by Universal Studios. It made over $25.5 million...
, two of his box office successes. - HariboHARIBOHaribo is a German confectionery producer, founded in 1920 by Hans Riegel Sr. The company headquarters are in Bonn, and the name is an acronym for Hans Riegel, Bonn....
– from the name of the founder and the German home town of the company: Hans Riegel, BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
. - Harman KardonHarman Kardonharman/kardon is a division of Harman International Industries and manufactures home and car audio equipment.Founded in 1953 by Dr. Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon — two men with a deep interest in music and the arts — the company helped create the high-fidelity audio industry. Their first product...
– named after its founders Dr. Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon. - Harpo ProductionsHarpo ProductionsHarpo Productions, Inc. is an incorporated US-based multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey . It also includes Harpo Films & Harpo Radio, Inc....
– production company founded by Oprah Winfrey. Harpo is Oprah backwards. - HasbroHasbroHasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
– founded by Henry and Helal Hassenfeld, the Hassenfeld Brothers. - HBOSHBOSHBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group having been taken over in January 2009...
– UK-based banking company formed by the merger of the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland. - HCLHindustan ComputersHCL is a global technology and IT Enterprise company based in Noida, India. The company comprises two publicly listed companies, HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems....
– Hindustan Computers Ltd, Indian software company founded by Shiv NadarShiv NadarShiv Nadar is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of HCL Technologies. , his personal wealth is US$5.6 billion. Shiv Nadar founded HCL in the mid-1970s and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT Enterprise over the next three decades by...
. - Hess CorporationHess CorporationThe Hess Corporation is an integrated oil company based in New York City. The company explores, produces, transports, and refines crude oil and natural gas. Vertically completing the logistical chain, about 1,360 Hess branded filling stations market gasoline to consumers in 16 states along the...
– named after its founder Leon Hess. - HP – Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
- Hispano-SuizaHispano-SuizaHispano-Suiza was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, best known for its luxury cars and aviation engines in the pre-World War II period of the twentieth century. In 1923, its French subsidiary became a semi-autonomous partnership with the parent company and is now part of the French SAFRAN...
– a former Spanish luxury automotive and engineering firm; its name – literally meaning "Spanish-Swiss" – refers to Spanish origin of the company and Swiss origin of its head engineer Marc BirkigtMarc BirkigtMarc Birkigt was a Swiss engineer who moved to Barcelona, Spain when he was hired as an engineer by Emilio de la Cuadra, founder of Hispano-Suiza automobiles. He created the Dewoitine company along with Émile Dewoitine. Birkigt was nominated for the Car Engineer of the Century prize for the... - HitachiHitachi, Ltd.is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company is the parent of the Hitachi Group as part of the larger DKB Group companies...
– old place name, literally "sunrise" - HMV – from "His Master's Voice", which appeared in 1899 as the title of a painting of Nipper, a Jack Russell terrier, listening to a gramophone.
- HoechstHoechst AGHoechst AG was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999...
– from the name of a district in FrankfurtFrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. - HondaHondais a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
– from the name of its founder, Soichiro HondaSoichiro Hondawas a Japanese engineer and industrialist, and founder of Honda Motor Co., Ltd..Honda was born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan on November 17, 1906. He spent his early childhood helping his father, Gihei, a blacksmith, with his bicycle repair business. At the time his mother, Mika, was a weaver. At...
. - HoneywellHoneywellHoneywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
– from the name of Mark Honeywell, founder of Honeywell Heating Specialty Co. It later merged with Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company and was finally called Honeywell Inc. in 1963. - HospiraHospiraHospira, Inc. is a U.S.-based global pharmaceutical and medical device company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois. It has approximately 14,000 employees. Hospira is the world's largest producer of generic injectable pharmaceuticals, manufacturing generic acute-care and oncology...
– the name, selected by the company's employees, is derived from the words hospital, spirit, inspire and the Latin word spero, which means hope. It expresses the hope and optimism that are critical in the healthcare industry. - HotmailHotmailWindows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
– Founder Jack SmithJack Smith (Hotmail)Jack Smith, along with Sabeer Bhatia, founded the first free web-based email service, Hotmail, in 1995. He has been the CEO of Proximex since 2007.-Career:...
got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer BhatiaSabeer BhatiaSabeer Bhatia is an Indian American entrepreneur who co-founded the Hotmail email service and Jaxtr.- Background :...
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 "HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
" – the markup language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing. (At one time, if you clicked on Hotmail's 'mail' tab, you would have seen "HoTMaiL" in the URL, but since Hotmail is now Windows Live Mail, it is no longer there.) - H&R BlockH&R BlockH&R Block is a tax preparation company in the United States, claiming more than 22 million customers worldwide, with offices in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Kansas City-based company also offers banking, personal finance and business consulting services.Founded in 1955 by brothers...
– after the founders, brothers Henry W. and Richard Bloch (with "Bloch" changed to "Block" to avoid mispronunciation). - HSBCHSBCHSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
– Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. - HTC Corporation – A contraction of its original corporate name, High Tech Computer Corporation.
- Hudson's Bay CompanyHudson's Bay CompanyThe Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
– in 1670, a Royal Charter granted the lands of the Hudson Bay watershed to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay." The company ceded the territory to Canada in 1870. - HyundaiHyundai GroupHyundai Group is a South Korean conglomerate founded by Chung Ju-yung. The first company in the group was founded in 1947 as a construction company. With government assistance, Chung and his family members rapidly expanded into various industries, eventually becoming South Korea's second biggest...
– connotes the sense of "the present age" or "modernity" in Korean.
I
- IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
– named by Tom (Thomas John) Watson Sr, an ex-employee of National Cash Register (NCR CorporationNCR CorporationNCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check...
). To one-up them in all respects, he called his company International Business Machines. - ICL – abbreviation for International Computers Limited, once the UK's largest computer company but now a service arm of Fujitsu, of Japan.
- IG FarbenIG FarbenI.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
– Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG was so named because the constituent German companies produced dyeDyeA dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
stuffs among many other chemical compounds. The consortium is most known today for its central participation in the World War II Holocaust, as it made the Zyklon BZyklon BZyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
gas used in the gas chambersGas ChambersGas Chambers is a fast, hollow and shallow point break type of wave. Being that it is a high performance wave it is well suited for the average to pro level surfer. Gas Chambers is located on the North Shore of Oahu about a 1/4 of a mile north of Ehukai Beach Park and 1/2 a mile west of Sunset...
. - IiyamaIiyama (company)is a manufacturer of high end computer monitors, medical monitors and televisions, named after the city Iiyama in Nagano, Japan. The company was founded in 1973....
– manufacturer of monitors and TVs named after the Japanese city, Iiyama. - IKEAIKEAIKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
– a composite of the first letters in the Swedish founder Ingvar KampradIngvar KampradIngvar Feodor Kamprad is a Swedish and the founder of IKEA, a retail company.According to Forbes magazine, as of 2011 he is the 162nd wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of around US$6 billion in 2011...
's name in addition to the first letters of the names of the property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. - IMIIMI plcIMI plc , formerly Imperial Metal Industries, is a British based engineering company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
– Imperial Metal Industries. Split off from Imperial Chemical Industries. - InBevInBevInBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
– the name was created after the merger of the Belgian company InterbrewInterbrewInterbrew was a large Belgium-based brewing company which owned many internationally known beers, as well as some smaller local beers. In 2004 Interbrew merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev to form InBev, which is the now largest brewer in the world by volume, with a 13% global market share now...
with Brazilian AmbevAmBevAmbev formally Companhia de Bebidas das Américas is a subsidiary of global brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev and is the biggest brewery in South America and the fifth in the world... - InditexInditexIndustria de Diseño Textil, S.A. , more commonly known as Inditex, is a large Spanish corporation and the world's largest fashion group. It is made up of almost a hundred companies dealing with activities related to textile design, production and distribution...
– a Spanish group named from Industria de Diseño Textil (Textile Design Industry). - Infineon TechnologiesInfineon TechnologiesInfineon Technologies AG is a German semiconductor manufacturer and was founded on April 1, 1999, when the semiconductor operations of the parent company Siemens AG were spun off to form a separate legal entity. , Infineon has 25,149 employees worldwide...
– derived from Infinity and Aeon. The name was given to Siemens'sSiemens AGSiemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
Semiconductor branch (called Siemens HL or Siemens SC/SSC) when it was spun off. - InfosysInfosysInfosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
– An Indian software major. "Information Systems" - IngenicoIngenicoIngenico S.A. is a worldwide company, whose business is to provide the technology involved in secure electronic transactions. Its traditional business is based around the manufacture of point of sale payment terminals, but it now also includes complete payment solutions and related services.It...
– electronic payment device manufacturer based in Paris and named from the French Ingenieux Compagnie (Ingenious Company). - InktomiInktomiInktomi Corporation was a California company that provided software for Internet service providers. It was founded in 1996 by UC Berkeley professor Eric Brewer and graduate student Paul Gauthier. The company was initially founded based on the real-world success of the search engine they developed...
– an internet search engine, acquired by Yahoo! in 2002, was named after IktomiIktomiIn Lakota mythology, Iktomi is a spider-trickster spirit, and a culture hero for the Lakota people. Alternate names for Iktomi include Ikto, Ictinike, Inktomi, Unktome, and Unktomi...
, a spider-trickster spirit from Lakota Indian legends. - IntelIntel CorporationIntel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
– Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore initially incorporated their company as N M Electronics. Someone suggested Moore Noyce Electronics but it sounded too close to "more noise". Later, Integrated Electronics was proposed but it had already been taken, so they used the initial syllables (INTegrated ELectronicsElectronicsElectronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
). To avoid potential conflicts with other companies with similar names, Intel purchased the name rights for $15,000 from a company called Intelco. (Source: Intel 15 Years Corporate Anniversary Brochure) - Ittiam SystemsIttiam SystemsIttiam Systems is a venture capital funded company founded by ex-Managing Director of Texas Instruments' India Srini Rajam in 2001, developing Digital Signal Processing Systems. It is headquartered in Bangalore, India and has marketing offices in the US, UK, France, Japan, China, Singapore and...
– an Indian company named from the famous philosophical dictum: "I think therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum).
J
- J2TV – from television and film production company formed by Malcolm in the Middle actor Justin Berfield and producer Jason Felts.
- JALJapan Airlinesis an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
– from Japan Airlines - Jat AirwaysJat AirwaysJat Airways is the national airline of Serbia and the former national airline of Yugoslavia, and has its head office in the Jat Airways Business Center in Belgrade. It was established in 1927 as Aeroput, making it currently one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation...
– founded in 1927 as "Aeroput" (Airway in Serbian). From 1947, it was known as JAT (Jugoslovenski Aero Transport). After the break-up of the former Yugoslavia (and after Federal Republic of Yugoslavia changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro), the company kept the name, Jat, but not as an abbreviation. - Jawa MotorsJawa MotorsJawa is a motorcycle manufacturer in the Czech republic, formerly Czechoslovakia. The name was created after its founder, Frantisek Janecek, bought the motorcycle division of Wanderer in 1929 , by concatenating the first letters of Janeček and Wanderer...
– from Janeček (the owner) and Wanderer (the motorcycle product). - JBLJBLJBL is an American audio electronics company currently owned by Harman International. It was founded in 1946 by James Bullough Lansing. Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated electronics. There are two independent divisions within the company — JBL Consumer and JBL Professional...
– from James B Lansing, an electronics designer - Johnson & JohnsonJohnson & JohnsonJohnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
– Originally a partnership between brothers James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson in 1885, the addition of brother Robert Wood Johnson I led to formal incorporation as Johnson & Johnson in 1887. - JVCJVC, usually referred to as JVC, is a Japanese international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927...
– Japan Victor Company (Victor Company of Japan, Ltd) was founded in 1927 as a US subsidiary, The Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan, Limited. JVC developed the VHS video cassette format.
K
- KalevKalev (company)Kalev Chocolate Factory is an Estonian confectionery company. The company can trace its origins back two hundred years, it was founded in 1806, and is now a part of the industrial conglomerate Orkla Group...
– after KalevKalev (mythology)In Estonian mythology and Kreutzwald's epic poem "Kalevipoeg", King Kalev was the father of King Kalevipoeg and the husband of Linda.Toompea, a hill in the centre of Tallinn, was said to be the tumulus over his grave, erected by Linda in memory of him. It is now Estonia's centre of government.In an...
, the character from Estonian mythologyEstonian mythologyEstonian mythology is a complex of myths belonging the Estonian folk heritage and literary mythology.Information about the pre-Christian and medieval Estonian mythology is scattered in historical chronicles, travellers' accounts and in ecclesiastical registers...
and national epicNational epicA national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation; not necessarily a nation-state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with aspirations to independence or autonomy...
KalevipoegKalevipoegKalevipoeg is an epic poem by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald held to be the Estonian national epic.- Origins : There existed an oral tradition within Ancient Estonia of legends explaining the origin of the world...
. - KawasakiKawasaki Heavy Industriesis an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa....
– from the name of its founder, Shozo Kawasaki - KFCKFCKFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
– short for Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is popularly believed that the company adopted the abbreviated name in 1991 to avoid the unhealthy connotations of the word 'fried'. The rumor that it was because the Commonwealth of Kentucky trademarked the name "Kentucky" is false. Commercials in the early 2000s tried to imply that the abbreviation stands for "Kitchen Fresh Chicken", but in 2007 KFC decided to return to the original "Kentucky Fried Chicken" branding (although the corporate name remained KFC). - Kenwood LimitedKenwood LimitedThe Kenwood Manufacturing Co. Ltd. was founded by Kenneth Maynard Wood as the Dickson & Wood company in 1936 selling, installing and repairing radios and televisions. The company is famous for the food processor Kenwood Chef which was launched in 1950....
– named after Kenneth (Ken) Wood, who founded this kitchenware company as Woodlau Industries in the UK in 1947. It is not related to Kenwood ElectronicsKenwood Electronicsis a Japanese manufacturer of amateur radio as well as Hi-Fidelity and portable audio equipment.-History:The company first started in 1946 as the Kasuga Radio Co. Ltd. In Komagane City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. In 1960 the firm was renamed "Trio Corporation"...
, which started as Kasuga Radio Co in Japan in 1946 and became Trio Corporation in 1960. - KenworthKenworthKenworth is an American manufacturer of medium and heavy-duty Class 8 trucks based in Kirkland, Washington, United States, a suburb of Seattle. It is a subsidiary of PACCAR, and is also a former manufacturer of transit buses and school buses.-History:...
Truck Company – Kenworth Truck Company was formed in 1923 and is named after the two principal stockholders Harry Kent and Edgar Worthington. - Kia MotorsKia MotorsKia Motors , headquartered in Seoul, is South Korea's second-largest automobile manufacturer, following the Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 1.4 million vehicles in 2010...
– the name "Kia" (起亞) roughly translates as "Rising from Asia" in HanjaHanjaHanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
. - Kinko's – from the college nickname of founder, Paul OrfaleaPaul OrfaleaPaul Orfalea , nicknamed "Kinko" because of his curly red hair, founded the copy-chain Kinko's. His father descends from Urfa.Orfalea was born in Los Angeles, California to parents of Lebanese descent...
. He was called Kinko because he had curly red hair. The company was bought by FedEx for $2.4 billion in 2004. - KmartKmartKmart, sometimes styled as "K-Mart," is a chain of discount department stores. The chain acquired Sears in 2005, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation. The company was founded in 1962 and is the third largest discount store chain in the world, behind Wal-Mart and...
– Named for Sebastian S. Kresge, who opened the first Kmart in 1962 as a division of his S. S. Kresge Company. The company became Kmart Corporation in 1977. After purchasing Sears, Roebuck & Company in 2005, the merged company became Sears Holdings CorporationSears Holdings CorporationSears Holdings Corporation is a retail conglomerate formed in 2005 by the merger of Sears, Roebuck and Co., of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, with Kmart Holdings Corporation, of Troy, Michigan...
, with Kmart continuing as a discount store chain within the new structure. - KodakEastman KodakEastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
– Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George EastmanGeorge EastmanGeorge Eastman was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream...
. The letter "K" was a favorite 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. - Komatsu – Japanese construction vehicle manufacturer named from the city of Komatsu, Ishikawa, where it was founded in 1917.
- KonicaKonicawas a Japanese manufacturer of, among other products, film, film cameras, camera accessories, photographic and photo-processing equipment, photocopiers, fax machines and laser printers.- History :...
– it was earlier known as Konishiroku Kogaku. Konishiroku in turn is the short for Konishiya Rokubeiten which was the first name of the company established by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the 1850s. - KorgKorgis a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners...
– named from the surnames of the founders, Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai, combined with the letters "rg" from the word organ. - KPMGKPMGKPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
– from the last names of the founders of the firms which combined to form the cooperative: Piet Klijnveld, William Barclay PeatWilliam Barclay PeatSir William Barclay Peat was born on the 15th February 1852 in Forebank St Cyrus, Kincardine, Scotland. He was the second son of James Peat and Margaret Barclay...
, James MarwickJames MarwickJames Marwick was an original founder of an accounting office that became one of the Big Four auditors, KPMG.Marwick's father was Sir James David Marwick, an Orcadian who was Town Clerk of Glasgow from 1873 to 1904...
, and Reinhard GoerdelerReinhard GoerdelerReinhard Goerdeler was a German accountant who was instrumental in founding KPMG, the leading international firm of accountants. Goerdeler was born in Königsberg, East Prussia as the son of Königsberg's second mayor Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, a leading anti-Nazi activist.While his father was on...
. - KrogerKrogerThe Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...
– American supermarket chain named after its founder, Barney Kroger - KUKAKUKAKUKA is a leading German producer of industrial robots for a variety of industries - from automotive and fabricated metals to food and plastics...
– founded in 1898 in Augsburg, Germany as Keller Und Knappich Augsburg, it shortened its name to KUKA. Today, it is a manufacturer of industrial robots and automation systems. - KyoceraKyocerais a multinational manufacturer based in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. The company has diversified its founding technology in ceramic materials through internal development as well as strategic mergers and acquisitions...
– from Kyoto Ceramics, after Kyoto in Japan.
L
- LadaLadaLada is a trademark of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast. All AvtoVAZ vehicles are currently sold under the Lada brand, though this was not always so; Lada was originally AvtoVAZ's export brand for models it sold under the Zhiguli name in the domestic Soviet market...
– from the name of a Slavic goddess, and used as a trading name by Russian automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZAvtoVAZAvtoVAZ is the Russian automobile manufacturer formerly known as VAZ: Volzhsky Avtomobilny Zavod , but better known to the world under the trade name Lada. The company was established in the late 1960s in collaboration with Fiat...
(АВТОВАЗ in Russian). VAZ is derived from Volzhsky Automobilny Zavod. - LancômeLancômeLancôme Paris is a makeup brand. Owned by L'Oréal since 1964, Lancôme is part of the Luxury Products division, which offers skin care, fragrances, and makeup at higher-end prices....
– began in 1935, when its founder, Armand Petitjean, was exploring the ruins of a castle, Le Chateau de Lancôme (Loir-et-CherLoir-et-CherLoir-et-Cher is a département in north-central France named after the rivers Loir and Cher.-History:Loir-et-Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and...
) while vacationing in the French countryside. Petitjean's inspiration for the company's symbol, a rose, was the many wild roses growing around the castle. - LCLLCL (Le Crédit Lyonnais)LCL S.A. is a major French financial services company, with its registered office in Lyon, France and its administrative head office in Paris, France. LCL is an abbreviation which means Le Crédit Lyonnais, the former name of the bank...
– from Le Crédit Lyonnais. - LegoLegoLego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
– combination of the Danish "leg godt", which means to "play well". Lego also means "I put together" in Latin, but Lego GroupLego GroupThe LEGO Group is a family-owned company based in Billund, Denmark, and best known for the manufacture of Lego-brand toys.The company was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen...
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. - Lenovo GroupLenovo GroupLenovo Group Limited is a Chinese multinational personal technology company that develops, manufactures and markets desktop and notebook computers, workstations, servers, storage drives, IT management software, and other related products and services. Lenovo was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1988...
– a portmanteau of "Le-" (from former name Legend) and "novo", pseudo-Latin for "new". This Chinese company took over IBM's PC division. - Lesney ProductsLesney ProductsLesney Products & Co. Ltd. was a British manufacturing company responsible for the conception, manufacture, and distribution of die-cast toys under the "Matchbox" name.-History:...
– Named from the founders Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith, who were school friends but not related. This British company made the Matchbox series of die-cast toys, similar to Dinky toys. - Level 3 CommunicationsLevel 3 CommunicationsLevel 3 Communications is a telecommunications and Internet service provider headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado.It operates a Tier 1 network. The company provides core transport, IP, voice, video and content delivery for most of the medium to large Internet carriers in North America and Europe...
– "Level 3" is a reference to the network layerNetwork layerThe network layer is layer 3 of the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking.The network layer is responsible for packet forwarding including routing through intermediate routers, whereas the data link layer is responsible for media access control, flow control and error checking.The network...
of the OSI modelOSI modelThe Open Systems Interconnection model is a product of the Open Systems Interconnection effort at the International Organization for Standardization. It is a prescription of characterizing and standardizing the functions of a communications system in terms of abstraction layers. Similar...
. - LGLG GroupLG Corp. is the second-largest South Korean conglomerate company following Samsung, and it is headquartered in the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. LG produces electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products and operates subsidiaries like LG Electronics, LG Display,...
– from the combination of two popular Korean brands, Lucky and Goldstar. (In Mexico, publicists explained the name change as an abbreviation to Linea Goldstar, Spanish for Goldstar Line) - LexmarkLexmarkLexmark International, Inc. is an American corporation which develops and manufactures printing and imaging products, including laser and inkjet printers, multifunction products, printing supplies, and services for business and individual consumers...
– in the 1980s, IBM wanted to spin off its printer and typewriter businesses. The main production facility for this business segment was in Lexington, KentuckyLexington, KentuckyLexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, and the code name for the spinoff was Lexington Marketing. - LionbridgeLionbridgeLionbridge Technologies, Inc. commonly known as Lionbridge, is a company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA that provides translation, localization, internationalization, interpretation, content development, software development, and software testing services...
– the word "localisation", which is the service this company offers, is often shortened to L10N. That is the first letter of the word and the last letter of the word, with 10 letters missing in between, hence L 10 N, which looks like lion. Bridge is the second part of the word as translation 'bridges' gap between people and markets that do not have a common language. - Lionhead StudiosLionhead StudiosLionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...
– games studio named after Mark Webley's pet hamster, which died a week before the company was founded. Webley worked for BullfrogBullfrog ProductionsBullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux. The company achieved recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous....
, and co-founded Lionhead with Peter MolyneuxPeter MolyneuxPeter Douglas Molyneux OBE is an English computer game designer and game programmer. He created the God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and Black & White, among others, as well as business simulation games such as Theme Park and more recently, the RPG series Fable.Despite the success of his games,...
, Tim Rance and Steve Jackson in July 1997. Microsoft bought the company in April 2006. - LoblawsLoblawsLoblaws is a supermarket chain with over 70 stores in Canada, headquartered in Brampton, with stores across Ontario and Quebec. Loblaws is a division of Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest food distributor...
– Canadian supermarket chain named for founder Theodore LoblawTheodore LoblawTheodore Pringle Loblaw was a Canadian grocer who spent his entire life in the province of Ontario. He became the founder of Loblaws supermarkets, which is now a nationwide retail empire....
. - Lockheed MartinLockheed MartinLockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
– Aerospace manufacturer, a combination of Lockheed CorporationLockheed CorporationThe Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
and Martin MariettaMartin MariettaMartin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...
, which is a combination of Glenn L. Martin CompanyGlenn L. Martin CompanyThe Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War...
and American-Marietta Corporation. - LoJackLoJackThe LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is an aftermarket vehicle tracking system that allows vehicles to be tracked by police, with the aim of recovering them in case of theft. The manufacturer claims a 90% recovery rate...
– "LoJack" (the stolen-vehicle recovery system) is a pun on the word "hijack" (to steal a vehicle). - LonginesLonginesLongines is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. The company was originally founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832 and it currently holds the oldest registered logo for a watch company . Longines is currently owned by the Swatch Group.Longines is known for its 'Aviators' watches...
– In 1862 the new company "Ancienne Maison Auguste Agassiz, Ernest Francillon, Successeur" was born. At that time watchmaking in the area used the skills of people working outside the "comptoir d'établissage", often at home. In 1866 Ernest Francillon bought two plots of land on the right bank of the river Suze at the place called "Les Longines" and brought all of the watchmaking skills under one roof. This was the first "Longines factory". - Lonsdale – boxing equipment manufacturer named after the Lonsdale BeltLonsdale beltThe Lonsdale Belt was a boxing prize introduced by Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, to be awarded to British boxing champions. It is still awarded to British champions today.-National Sporting Club:...
, a boxing trophy donated by the English Lord Lonsdale. - L'OréalL'OréalThe L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. With its registered office in Paris and head office in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics...
– In 1907, Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, developed an innovative hair-color formula. He called his improved hair dye Auréole. - LOTLOT Polish AirlinesPolskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. , trading as LOT Polish Airlines, is the flag carrier of Poland. Based in Warsaw, LOT was established in 1929, making it one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation. Using a fleet of 55 aircraft, LOT operates a complex network to 60 destinations in Europe,...
– LOT Polish Airlines. "Lot" in Polish means "flight". - Lotus SoftwareLotus SoftwareLotus Software is a software company with headquarters in Westford, Massachusetts...
– Mitch KaporMitch KaporMitchell David Kapor is the founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the designer of Lotus 1-2-3. He is also a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and was the first chair of the Mozilla Foundation...
named his company after the Lotus PositionLotus positionThe Lotus Position is a cross-legged sitting posture originating in meditative practices of ancient India, in which the feet are placed on the opposing thighs. It is an established posture, commonly used for meditation, in the Hindu Yoga and Buddhist contemplative traditions...
or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation technique as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. - Lucent TechnologiesLucent TechnologiesAlcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...
– a spin-off from AT&T, it was named Lucent (meaning "luminous" or "glowing with light") because "light as a metaphor for visionary thinking reflected the company's operating and guiding business philosophy", according to the Landor Associates staff who chose the name. It was taken over by Alcatel to form Alcatel-Lucent in 2006. - LukoilLUKoilLukoil/LUKoil ; ) is Russia's second largest oil company and its second largest producer of oil. In 2009, the company produced 97.615 million tons of oil; ....
– From the first letters of the three companies that merged to form the RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n oilPetroleumPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
giant: Langepasneftegaz, Uraineftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, plus the English word "oil". - LycosLycosLycos, Inc. is a search engine and web portal established in 1994. Lycos also encompasses a network of email, webhosting, social networking, and entertainment websites.-Corporate history:...
– from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiderWolf spiderWolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae, from the Ancient Greek word "" meaning "wolf". They are robust and agile hunters with good eyesight. They live mostly solitary lives and hunt alone. Some are opportunistic hunters pouncing upon prey as they find it or even chasing it over short...
s.
M
- MaggiMaggiMaggi is a Nestlé brand of instant soups, stocks, bouillon cubes, ketchups, sauces, seasonings and instant noodles. The original company came into existence in 1872 in Switzerland, when Julius Maggi took over his father's mill. It quickly became a pioneer of industrial food production, aiming at...
– food company named after its founder, Julius Maggi. It was taken over by Nestlé in 1947 and survives as a brand name. - Malév - Hungary's national airline carrier. Its name comes from Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat - meaning Hungarian Air-traffic Company.
- MAN – abbreviation for Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Company). The MAN company is a German engineering works and truck manufacturer.
- MandrivaMandrivaMandriva S.A. is a publicly traded Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A...
– new company formed from the merger of Mandrake Linux and Connectiva Linux - Manhattan AssociatesManhattan AssociatesManhattan Associates is a supply chain management software provider. It was founded in 1990 in Manhattan Beach, California from where it borrows its name. The company has been headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1995 and operates offices around the world. The company is a midsize supply chain...
– named from Manhattan Beach, California, where the company was founded, before it moved to Atlanta, Georgia. - ManugisticsManugisticsManugistics Group, Inc. was a company that developed and marketed software applications, principally for resource planning and supply chain management, with clients around the world....
– Manufacturing + Logistics, a supplier of supply chain optimization software. - Manulife FinancialManulife FinancialManulife Financial Corporation , is a Canadian insurance company and financial services provider. Manulife Financial's global head office is located in Toronto, Canada and the Company has operations in 21 countries and territories worldwide.The Company operates in Canada and Asia through the brand...
– founded in 1887 as Manufacturing Life Insurance Company - MarsMars, IncorporatedMars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...
– named after Frank C. Mars and his wife, Ethel, who started making candy in 1911. Their son, Forrest E. Mars, joined with Bruce Murrie, the son of a Hershey executive, to form M&M LtdM&M'sM&M's are dragée-like "colorful button-shaped candies" produced by Mars, Incorporated...
(from Mars & Murrie). Forrest took over the family business after his father's death and merged the two companies in 1964. After retiring from Mars, Inc. in 1993, Forrest founded Ethel M. Chocolates, named after his mother. - Masco Corporation – from the names of the founder Alex Manoogian, Screw and Company. Masco Screw Products Co. was founded in 1929.
- Mast-Jägermeister AGMast-Jägermeister AGMast-Jägermeister SE is a privately held corporation whose shares are held by the Findel-Mast family. The corporate offices are located in Wolfenbüttel. Günter Mast was the managing director for many years until his death in 2011.- History :...
– Named for founder Wilhelm Mast and its main product, JägermeisterJägermeisterJägermeister is a German 70-proof digestif made with 56 different herbs and spices. It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE, headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, south of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany.- History :...
(German for "hunt master") liqueur. - MattelMattelMattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
– a portmanteau of the founders names Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler. - Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH – It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach with his son Karl Maybach.
- Mazda Motor CorporationMazdais a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales...
– the company was founded as Toyo Kogyo, started manufacturing Mazda brand cars in 1931, and changed its name to Mazda in 1984. The cars were supposedly named after Ahura MazdaAhura MazdaAhura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
, the chief deity of the Zoroastrians, though many think this explanation was created after the fact, to cover up what is simply a poor anglicized version of the founders name, Jujiro Matsuda. This theory is supported by the fact that the company is referred to only as "Matsuda" in Japan. - MBNAMBNAMBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006...
– originally a subsidiary of Maryland National Corporation, MBNA once stood for Maryland Bank, NA (NA itself standing for National Association, a federal designation representing the bank's charter). - McDonald'sMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
– from the name of the brothers Dick McDonald and Mac McDonaldDick and Mac McDonaldRichard James "Dick" McDonald and his brother, Maurice James "Mac" McDonald were early American fast food pioneers, who established the first McDonald's restaurant at West 14th Street and 1398 North E Street in San Bernardino, California in 1948...
, who founded the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940. - MCI CommunicationsMCI CommunicationsMCI Communications Corp. was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and ushered in the competitive long-distance telephone industry. It was headquartered in Washington,...
– Microwave Communications, Inc. The company later merged with Worldcom to create MCI Worldcom. The MCI was dropped in 2000 and the acquiring company changed its name to MCI when it emerged from bankruptcy in 2003. - MercedesMercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
– from the first name of the daughter of Emil JellinekEmil JellinekEmil Jellinek, known after 1903 as Emil Jellinek-Mercedes was a wealthy European entrepreneur who sat on the board of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft between 1900 and 1909. He specified an engine designed there by Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler for the first 'modern' car...
, who distributed cars of the early Daimler company around 1900. - Merillat IndustriesMerillat IndustriesMerillat Industries was founded in Adrian, Michigan as an American manufacturer of kitchen cabinets in 1946 by Orville D. Merillat. Now retired, Richard Merillat, took over from his father as CEO and President....
– named after Orville D. Merillat, who founded the company in 1946. - Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
(MGM) – Film studio formed from the merger of three other companies: Metro Picture Corporation, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Goldwyn Picture Corporation in turn was named after the last names of Samuel GoldfishSamuel GoldwynSamuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
, and EdgarEdgar SelwynEdgar Selwyn was a prominent figure in American theater and film in the first half of the 20th Century.Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Selwyn flourished in the Broadway theater as an actor, playwright, director, and producer from 1899 to 1942...
and Archibald Selwyn. - MFI – from Mullard Furniture Industries. The original company was named after the founder's wife, whose maiden name was Mullard.
- MG Cars – from Morris Garages after co-founder William Morris. Under Chinese ownership, the company says: "We want Chinese consumers to know this brand as 'Modern Gentleman'."
- MicrolinsMicrolinsMicrolins is a Brazilian educational franchise chain, the second largest of its kind in the country, with almost 700 schools in more than 500 cities, and almost half a million students . Founded in the city of Lins by young entrepreneur José Carlos Semenzato, Microlins started as a single small...
– from Microcomputers and LinsLins, São PauloLins is a municipality in the western part of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2006 is 69,721 and the area is 527.98 km². The elevation is 437 m...
, a Brazilian city where the company was founded by José Carlos SemenzatoJosé Carlos SemenzatoJosé Carlos Semenzato is a Brazilian businessman and entrepreneur, founder and president of Microlins educational franchising chain... - Micron TechnologyMicron TechnologyMicron Technology, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Boise, Idaho, USA, best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices. This includes DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, SSD and CMOS image sensing chips. Consumers may be more familiar with its consumer brand Crucial...
– computer memory producer named after the microscopic parts of its products. It is now better known by its consumer brand name: Crucial. - MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
– coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to microcomputer software. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' disappeared on 3/2/1987 with the introduction of a new corporate identity and logo. The "slash between the 'o' and 's' [in the Microsoft logo] emphasizes the "soft" part of the name and conveys motion and speed." - Midway GamesMidway GamesMidway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
– derived from the name of an airport on the southwestern part of Chicago. - Mincom LimitedMincom LimitedMincom Pty Ltd is a software and services company providing business software to industries such as mining, public infrastructure, defense, oil and gas in more than 40 countries across North America, South America, Australia, South East Asia, Africa, and Europe.Mincom Inc. operates in North America...
– Mincom was founded in Brisbane, Australia in 1979. Currently the largest software company in Australia and the fourth oldest ERP company globally. The company initially created software to specifically assist mining companies and the name Mining 'computing. - MinoltaMinoltaMinolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese worldwide manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35mm SLR camera system...
– Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten (日独写真機商店; literally: Japan-Germany camera shop). It was not until 1934 that the name Minolta first appeared on a camera, the Minolta Vest. - MIPROMIPROMIPRO Electronics Co. Ltd. , established in 1995, is an ISO-9001 certified Taiwan-based company that designs and manufactures wireless microphones, portable wireless public address and other wireless audio equipment for consumer, professional and commercial applications. U.S...
– stands for MIcrophone PROfessionals. MIPRO is a manufacturer of wireless microphones. - MIPSMIPS TechnologiesMIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was...
– originally stood for Microprocessor without Interlocking Pipeline Stages. When interlocks where added to a later implementation, the name was redefined to not be an acronym but just a name. (The name also connotes computer speed, by association with the acronym for millions of instructions per second.) - MITIE – an acronym for Managamenet Incentive Through Investment Equity
- MitelMitelMitel Networks, is a high-tech company providing unified communications solutions for business. The company previously produced TDM PBX systems and applications but after a change in ownership in 2001 now focuses almost entirely on Voice-over-IP products.Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa,...
– from Mike and Terry's Lawnmowers, after the founders Michael Cowpland (see also: Corel) and Terry Matthews, and the company's original business plan. - MITREMITREThe Mitre Corporation is a not-for-profit organization based in Bedford, Massachusetts and McLean, Virginia...
– Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Establishment (however The MITRE Corporation asserts that its name is not an acronym) - MitsubishiMitsubishiThe Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy...
– the name Mitsubishi (三菱) has two parts: mitsu means three and hishi (changing to bishi in the middle of the word) means diamond (the shape). Hence, the three diamond logo. (Note that "diamond" in this context refers only to the rhombus shape, not to the precious gem.) - Moneris SolutionsMoneris SolutionsMoneris Solutions is Canada’s largest processor and acquirer of debit and credit card payments. Moneris was established in December 2000 as a joint investment between RBC Royal Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and has a contact centre in Sackville,...
– Latin for "You (plural) are being protected." - Morningstar, Inc.Morningstar, Inc.Morningstar, Inc. is an independent investment research company based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.-Businesses:Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for...
– The name Morningstar is taken from the last sentence in Walden, a book by Henry David Thoreau; "the sun is but a morning star" - MotorolaMotorolaMotorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
– Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company (at the time, Galvin Manufacturing Company) started manufacturing radios for cars. Many audio equipment makers of the era used the "ola" ending for their products, most famously the "Victrola" phonographPhonographThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
made by the Victor Talking Machine CompanyVictor Talking Machine CompanyThe Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
. The name was meant to convey the idea of "sound" and "motion". It became so widely recognized that the company later adopted it as the company name. - Mozilla FoundationMozilla FoundationThe Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to support and provide leadership for the open source Mozilla project. The organization sets the policies that govern development, operates key infrastructure and controls trademarks and other intellectual property...
– from the name of the web browser that preceded Netscape NavigatorNetscape NavigatorNetscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
. When Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace the Mosaic browser, it was internally named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, GodzillaGodzillais a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
) by Jamie ZawinskiJamie ZawinskiJamie Zawinski , commonly known as jwz, is a former professional American computer programmer responsible for significant contributions to the free software projects Mozilla and XEmacs, and early versions of the Netscape Navigator web browser...
. - MozyMozyMozy is an online backup service for both Windows and Mac users. The cloud service allows users to back up data continuously, manually or schedule updates. Mozy is known for offering backup storage space for home and business users. In 2011, they changed to their current tiered pricing model...
- from the words "MOre Zetabytes for Your mom". It was initially named "Breakaway Data Services for Your Mom," or "Bdsym" - MRFMadras Rubber FactoryMadras Rubber Factory, popularly known as MRF, is a major tyre manufacturing company located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.The name was later changed as "Manorama Rubber Factory". MRF is mainly involved in making vehicle tyres. It is India's largest tyre manufacturing company, and among the dozen...
– from Madras Rubber Factory, founded by K M Mammen Mappillai in 1946. He started with a toy-balloon manufacturing unit at Tiruvottiyur, Chennai (then called Madras). In 1952 he began manufacturing tread-rubber and, in 1961, tyres. - Musco LightingMusco LightingMusco Lighting is an American privately owned company, based out of Oskaloosa, Iowa that is noted for providing permanent or temporary lighting at major sports events and stadiums including the Super Bowl and Olympics....
– from the company's original location of Muscatine County, IowaMuscatine County, Iowa-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 42,745 in the county, with a population density of . There were 17,910 housing units, of which 16,412 were occupied.-2000 census:...
, where it still operates a large manufacturing facility. - MustekMustek SystemsMustek Systems is a company based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, established in October 1988. Its brand is Mustek ....
– Taiwanese electronics manufacturer with name derived from Most Unique Scanner Technology. - MVCMusic and Video ClubMusic and Video Club or MVC was a British entertainment retailer which sold DVDs, VHS, audio cassettes, video games, and CDs of popular and specialist titles. At its peak the company operated 82 stores in the United Kingdom and also sold products over the Internet...
– from Music and Video Club, the name of a UK-based entertainment chain.
N
- NabiscoNabiscoNabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...
– formerly The National Biscuit Company, changed in 1971 to Nabisco. - NAD Electronics – Audio equipment manufacturer named for New Acoustic Dimension.
- NapsterNapsterNapster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
– The service was named Napster after Fanning's hairstyle-based nickname. - NCR CorporationNCR CorporationNCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check...
– from National Cash Register. - NECNEC, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
– from Nippon Electric Company. - NeroNero AGNero is a global computer software company headquartered in Karlsbad, Germany. It is perhaps most well-known for its burning software, Nero Burning ROM.-History:The company was founded as Ahead Software GmbH in 1995 by Richard Lesser....
– Nero Burning ROMNero Burning ROMNero Multimedia Suite is a popular software suite for Microsoft Windows by Nero AG . Version 10 of this product was released in April 2010.- Included products :The following applications are included in Nero 11 :Disc authoring...
named after Nero burning Rome ("Rom" is the German spelling of "Rome"). - NestléNestléNestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
– named after its founder, Henri NestléHenri NestléHenri Nestlé, born Heinrich Nestle , was a German confectioner and founder of Nestlé, the world's largest food and beverage company, as well as one of the main creators of condensed milk.-Birth:...
, who was born in Germany under the name "Nestle", which is German (actually, Swabian diminutiveDiminutiveIn language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
) for "bird's nest". The company logo is a bird's nest with a mother bird and two chicks. - NetscapeNetscapeNetscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
– Originally the product name of the company's web browser ("Mosaic Communications Netscape Web Navigator"). The company adopted the product name after the University of IllinoisUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignThe University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
threatened to sue for trademark infringement over the use of the Mosaic name. Netscape is the combination of network and landscape. - NikeNike, Inc.Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
– named for the Greek goddess of victoryNike (mythology)In Greek mythology, Nike was a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas and Styx and the sister of Kratos , Bia , and Zelus...
. - NikonNikon, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...
– the original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning "Japanese Optical". - NintendoNintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
– Nintendo is the transliteration of the company's Japanese name, nintendou (任天堂). The first (nin) can be translated as to "entrusted"; ten-dou means "heaven". - NissanNissan Motors, usually shortened to Nissan , is a multinational automaker headquartered in Japan. It was a core member of the Nissan Group, but has become more independent after its restructuring under Carlos Ghosn ....
– the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means "Japan Industries". - NokiaNokiaNokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
– started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish city of NokiaNokia, FinlandNokia, Finland is a town and a municipality on the banks of the Nokianvirta River in the region of Pirkanmaa, some west of Tampere. As of it has a population of .-History:...
. The company later adopted the city's name. - Nortel NetworksNortelNortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
– named from Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Bay Networks. The company was originally spun off from the Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd in 1895 as Northern Electric and Manufacturing, and traded as Northern Electric from 1914 to 1976. - NovartisNovartisNovartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
– after the Latin expression "novae artes" which means something like "new skills". - NovellNovellNovell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
– Novell, Inc. was earlier Novell Data Systems co-founded by George Canova. The name was suggested by George's wife who mistakenly thought that "Novell" meant new in French. (Nouvelle is the feminine form of the French adjective 'Nouveau'. Nouvelle as a noun in French is 'news'.)
O
- OCZOCZ TechnologyOCZ Technology is a manufacturer of computer hardware based in San Jose, California, USA. Since entering the memory market in 2002, OCZ has targeted its products primarily at the computer hardware enthusiast market, first producing performance DDR RAM, Video Cards, USB drives, and various Cooling...
– play on the word Overclockers. - OnkyoOnkyois a Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer, specializing in home cinema and audio equipment including receivers and surround sound speakers. The word Onkyo translates as "sound harmony".The company started under the name of Osaka Denki Onkyo K.K in 1946...
translates as "sound harmony" - OoyalaOoyalaOoyala is a venture-backed, privately held company that provides online video technology products and services. The company was founded in 2007 by brothers Bismarck Lepe and Belsasar Lepe, and their colleague and friend from Google, Sean Knapp...
- the word Ooyala (ఉయ్యల) means 'cradle' in TeluguTelugu languageTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, as in a "cradle of innovation". - OracleOracle CorporationOracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
– Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Miner were working on a consulting project for the CIACentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
. The code name for the project was OracleOracleIn Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
. The project was designed to use the newly written SQL database language from IBM. The project was eventually terminated but they decided to finish what they started and bring it to the world. Later they changed the name of the company, Relational Software Inc., to the name of the product. - Ornge – new name (2006) for Ontario Air Ambulance, chosen to reflect the orange color of its aircraft. It was intended to provide a unique branding but the ornge.com misspelling was already used by an advertising portal.
- OsramOsramOsram, founded 1919, is part of the industry sector of Siemens AG and one of the two leading lighting manufacturers in the world. The name is derived from osmium and Wolfram , as both these elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded...
– from osmiumOsmiumOsmium is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. Osmium is a hard, brittle, blue-gray or blue-blacktransition metal in the platinum family, and is the densest natural element. Osmium is twice as dense as lead. The density of osmium is , slightly greater than that of iridium,...
and wolframTungstenTungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
.
P
- PaccarPACCARPACCAR Inc is the third largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in the world , and has substantial manufacture in light and medium vehicles through its various subsidiaries.-History:...
– from Pacific Car and Rail. - PCCWPCCWPCCW Limited is the holding company of HKT Group Holdings Limited, Hong Kong's premier telecommunications provider in the Information and Communications Technologies industry. PCCW also holds a majority interest in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited...
– originally Pacific Century Development, the company's English name was changed from Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited to PCCW Limited on 9 August 2002. It owns Hong Kong Telecom. - PamidaPamidaPamida is a chain of department stores with more than 175 locations in 16 Midwestern and West Central U.S. states. Pamida stores are generally located in smaller communities that range from 3,000 to 8,000 in population...
– U.S. retailer founded by Jim Witherspoon and Lee Wegener, it took its name from the first two letters of the names of Witherspoon's three sons: Patrick, Michael and David. It became a division of another American retailer, Shopko, in 2000, but is again a separate company after being spun off in 2007. - PemexPemexPetróleos Mexicanos or Pemex is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. As of 2010, with a total asset worth of $415.75 billion, it is the second non-publicly listed largest company in the world by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009...
– An abbreviation of the full name of the state-owned Mexican oil/gasoline company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Spanish for Mexican Petroleum). - PennzoilPennzoilPennzoil is an American oil company founded in Los Angeles, California in 1913. In 1955, it was acquired by Oil City, Pennsylvania company South Penn Oil, a former branch of Standard Oil. In 1963, South Penn Oil merged with Zapata Petroleum; the merged company took the Pennzoil name. During the...
– formed by a merger of South Penn Oil (Penn), a former Standard OilStandard OilStandard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
subsidiary, and Zapata Oil (zoil). - PepsiPepsiPepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
– named from the digestive enzyme pepsinPepsinPepsin is an enzyme whose precursor form is released by the chief cells in the stomach and that degrades food proteins into peptides. It was discovered in 1836 by Theodor Schwann who also coined its name from the Greek word pepsis, meaning digestion...
. - PetrobrasPetrobrasPetróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...
– An abbreviation of the BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian oilPetroleumPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
company's full name, Petróleo Brasileiro (PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
for Brazilian Petroleum). - PeugeotPeugeotPeugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
- Named after Emile Peugeot. - PhilcoPhilcoPhilco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...
– from the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company. The pioneering U.S. radio and television manufacturer was taken over by Ford and later by PhilipsPhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
. - PhilipsPhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
– Royal Philips Electronics was founded in 1891 by brothers Gerard (the engineer) and Anton (the entrepreneur) Philips. - PiaggioPiaggioPiaggio based in Pontedera, Italy encompasses seven brands of scooters, motorcycles and compact commercial vehicles. As the fourth largest producer of scooters and motorcycles in the world, Piaggio produces more than 600,000 vehicles annually, with five research and development centers, more than...
– Named after founder Rinaldo Piaggio. - PixarPixarPixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
– from pixel and the co-founder's name, Alvy Ray Smith. According to the biography "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs" by Alan Deutschman, the 'el' in pixel was changed to 'ar' because 'ar' is frequently used in Spanish verbs, implying the name means "To Pix". - PMC-SierraPMC-SierraPMC-Sierra is a fabless semiconductor company which develops and sells devices into the communications, storage, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces.-Corporate history:...
– PMC from Pacific Microelectronics Centre, a research arm of BC Tel, and Sierra from the company that acquired it, Sierra Semiconductor, presumably so named because of the allure of the Sierra Nevada mountains to members of a California-based company. - PorschePorschePorsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
– car company named after founder Ferdinand PorscheFerdinand PorscheFerdinand Porsche was an Austrian automotive engineer and honorary Doctor of Engineering. He is best known for creating the first hybrid vehicle , the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, as well as the first of many Porsche automobiles...
, an Austrian automotive engineer. The family name may have originated in the Czech name "Boreš" (boresh). - PradaPradaPrada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women , founded by Mario Prada.-Foundations:...
– an Italian high fashion house named after the founder Mario Prada, who founded PradaPradaPrada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women , founded by Mario Prada.-Foundations:...
in Milan 1914. - PricewaterhouseCoopersPricewaterhouseCoopersPricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
– Global professional services firm named as a result of the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in 1998. It now trades as PwC. - Procter & GambleProcter & GambleProcter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
– named after the founders, William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, who pooled their resources after marrying two sisters. The company was founded in Cincinnati in 1837. - ProfSatProfSatProfSat Tecnologia e Educação Limitada is a Brazilian private company which specializes in professional education and preparatory courses using satellite video streaming technologies. It was conceived by Dr. Renato M.E...
– Brazilian satelliteSatelliteIn the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
-based education company, meaning Professional Sateliite. - Proton – Malaysian car manufacturer, where the name is derived from Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional
- PRS GuitarsPRS GuitarsPRS Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland. PRS Guitars was founded by guitarist and luthier Paul Reed Smith in 1985. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of high-end electric guitars.-Materials:...
– named after its founder, Paul Reed SmithPaul Reed SmithPaul Reed Smith , is a luthier and the founder and owner of PRS Guitars.Smith is originally from Bowie, Maryland. He made his first guitar while at St. Mary's College of Maryland, and continued to build guitars after he finished college, making them one at a time, one a month...
. - Psion – UK computer company named by its founder, South Africa-born Dr David Potter, from Potter Scientific Instruments Or Nothing.
Q
- Q8 – the acronym for these gas stations sounds like Kuwait, that is, the letter Q followed by the number 8. It is the abbreviation for Kuwait Petroleum International LimitedKuwait Petroleum International LimitedKuwait Petroleum International, often referred to by its trademark Q8, refines and markets fuel, lubricants and other petroleum derivatives in Europe. It is the international subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. It supplies 4,000 retail service stations, as well as direct sales operations...
. - QantasQantasQantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
– from its original name, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. - QimondaQimondaQimonda AG, was a memory company split out of Infineon Technologies on 1 May 2006, to form at the time the second largest DRAM company worldwide, according to the industry research firm Gartner Dataquest...
– Qimonda carries different meanings and allows associations in different languages. "Qi" stands for flowing or breathing energy, and it was thought that the combination of the English word "key" and the Latin "mundus" would be intuitively understood in the Western World as "key to the world". - QuadQuad ElectroacousticsQuad Electroacoustics is a British manufacturer of hi-fi equipment, based in Huntingdon, England.- Corporate history :The company was founded by Peter J. Walker in 1936 in London, and was initially called S.P. Fidelity Sound Systems. In 1936 the name was changed to the Acoustical Manufacturing Co....
– an acronym for Quality Unit Amplified Domestic. Quad Electroacoustics was founded in 1936 by Peter Walker, and was formerly called the Acoustical Manufacturing Company. - QuarkQuark, Inc.Quark, Inc. is a privately owned software company best known for QuarkXPress. It is called Quark because the company's goal is to "create software that would be the platform for publishing", just as quarks are the basis for all matter.As of August 2011, Quark's offerings include:* QuarkXPress -...
– named after the subatomic particle. The word quarkQuarkA quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly...
originates from Finnegans WakeFinnegans WakeFinnegans Wake is a novel by Irish author James Joyce, significant for its experimental style and resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of seventeen years, and published in 1939, two years before the author's...
by James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
. - QualcommQualcommQualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
– Quality Communication - QVCQVCQVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – QVC Italy to 200 million households...
– Quality, Value and Convenience
R
- RabobankRabobankRabobank is a financial services provider with offices worldwide. Their main location is in the Netherlands. They are a global leader in Food and Agri financing and in sustainability-oriented banking...
– Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank (Dutch for Farmers Loan Bank), a combination of the two cooperatives that merged to form the company. - RANDRANDRAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company. It is currently financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations including the healthcare industry, universities...
– Research ANd Development. - RaytheonRaytheonRaytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
– "Light of the gods". Maker of missiles such as Patriot, Maverick, Sidewinder and Tomahawk, among other military technology. - RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
– Radio Corporation of America. - Reckitt & Colman – named from the merger of Reckitt & Sons with J&J Colman in 1938. Colman's, best known for its mustard, was founded by Jeremiah Colman in 1814. Isaac Reckitt founded Reckitt & Sons in 1840.
- Reckitt BenckiserReckitt BenckiserReckitt Benckiser plc is a global consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of household products and a major producer of consumer healthcare and personal products...
– consumer goods giant named from the merger of Britain's Reckitt & Colman and the Dutch company Benckiser NV in December 1999. The latter was named after its founder, Johann A. Benckiser. - Red HatRed HatRed Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
– while at college, company founder Marc Ewing was given the CornellCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
lacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
team cap (with red and white stripes) by his grandfather. People would turn to him to solve their problems and he was referred to as that guy in the red hat. By the time he wrote the manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux he had lost the cap, so the manual included an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found. - ReebokReebokReebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...
– alternate spelling of rhebok (Pelea capreolus), an African antelope. - RenaultRenaultRenault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
- named after the founder Louis Renault. - REO Motor Car CompanyREO Motor Car CompanyThe REO Motor Car Company was a Lansing, Michigan based company that produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. At one point the company also manufactured buses on its truck platforms.REO was initiated by Ransom E. Olds during August 1904...
– car manufacturer founded in 1904 by Ransom E. OldsRansom E. OldsRansom Eli Olds was a pioneer of the American automotive industry, for whom both the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1894, and his first gasoline powered car in 1896...
, and named from its founder's initials. Later, the rock band REO SpeedwagonREO SpeedwagonREO Speedwagon is an American rock band. Formed in 1967, the band grew in popularity during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. Hi Infidelity is the group's most commercially successful album, selling over ten million copies and charting four Top 40 hits in the US...
took its name from one of its trucks, the REO Speed WagonREO Speed WagonThe REO Speed Wagon was a light motor truck manufactured by REO Motor Car Company. It was an ancestor of the pickup truck....
. - RepsolRepsol YPFRepsol YPF, S.A. is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 29 countries...
– name derived from Refinería de Petróleo de eScombreras Oil (Escombreras is an oil refinery in Cartagena, Spain) and chosen for its euphony when the, then, state-owned oil company was incorporated in 1986. Previously Repsol was a lubricating-oil trademark. - Research In MotionResearch In MotionResearch In Motion Limited or RIM is a Canadian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada that designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market...
– from the phrase "poetry in motion", which company founder Mike LazaridisMike LazaridisMihalis "Mike" Lazaridis , OC, O.Ont is a Greek Canadian businessman. He is the founder and co-CEO of Research In Motion , which created and manufactures the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. He is also a former chancellor of the University of Waterloo, and an Officer of the Order of Canada...
had seen used to describe a footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player. - RickenbackerRickenbackerRickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
– named after co-founder Adolph RickenbacherAdolph RickenbacherAdolph Rickenbacker was a Swiss-American who founded the Rickenbacker guitar company.Adolf Rickenbacker was born in Switzerland....
, with the spelling anglicised. The company started as the Electro String Instrument Corporation in 1931. - RobeezRobeezRobeez Footwear is a soft-soled baby shoe company that manufactures over 70 different children shoe designs. Robeez is headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada and is a division of Stride Rite Corp.-Origins and history:...
– baby-shoe company named after the founder's son Robbie (Robert). Robeez was taken over by Stride Rite in 2006. - Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce LimitedRolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
– name used by Rolls-Royce plcRolls-Royce plcRolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
and Rolls-Royce Motor CarsRolls-Royce Motor CarsRolls-Royce Motor Cars is a British manufacturer of luxury automobiles based at the Goodwood plant in West Sussex, England. It is the current producer of Rolls-Royce branded automobiles, whose historical production dates back to 1904. The factory is located across from the historic Goodwood Circuit...
, among others. In 1884 Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business, making his first car, a Royce, in 1904. He was introduced to Charles Stewart Rolls on 4 May that year. The pair entered into a partnership in which Royce would manufacture cars to be sold exclusively by Rolls, and the cars would be called Rolls-Royce. - RSA SecurityRSA SecurityRSA, the security division of EMC Corporation, is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, and maintains offices in Australia, Ireland, Israel, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, China, Hong Kong and Japan....
– formed from the first letters of the family names of its founders Ronald Rivest, Adi ShamirAdi ShamirAdi Shamir is an Israeli cryptographer. He is a co-inventor of the RSA algorithm , a co-inventor of the Feige–Fiat–Shamir identification scheme , one of the inventors of differential cryptanalysis and has made numerous contributions to the fields of cryptography and computer...
and Len Adleman.
S
- SaabSaab AutomobileSaab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...
– founded in 1937 in SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
as Svenska Aeroplan aktiebolagetAktiebolagAktiebolag is the Swedish term for "limited company" or "corporation". When used in company names, it is abbreviated "AB" or "Ab"...
(Swedish Aeroplane Company); the last word is typically abbreviated as AB, hence Saab and Saab Automobile AB. - SabreSabre (computer system)Sabre Global Distribution System , owned by Sabre Holdings, is used by more than 55,000 travel agencies around the world with more than 400 airlines, 88,000 hotels, 24 car rental brands, and 13 cruise lines...
– Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment. - Saku Brewery – after the village in Saku Parish, Estonia, where the company was founded.
- SamsoniteSamsoniteThe Samsonite Corporation makes luggage with its products ranging from large suitcases to small toiletries bags and briefcases. It was started in Denver, Colorado, USA in 1910 byJesse Shwayder, as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company. Shwayder named one of his initial cases "Samson", after the...
– named from the Biblical character SamsonSamsonSamson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
, renowned for his strength. - SamsungSamsung GroupThe Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
– meaning three stars in Korean. - SanyoSanyois a major electronics company and member of the Fortune 500 whose headquarters is located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo targets the middle of the market and has over 230 Subsidiaries and Affiliates....
– meaning three oceans in Japanese. - SAPSAP AGSAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
– SystemAnalyse und Programmentwicklung (German for "System analysis and program development"), a company formed by five ex-IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM. Later, SAP was redefined to stand for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing). - SASScandinavian Airlines SystemScandinavian Airlines or SAS, previously Scandinavian Airlines System, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the largest airline in Scandinavia....
– Scandinavian Airlines System, the flag airline carrier of SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Norway and DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. - SAS InstituteSAS InstituteSAS Institute Inc. , headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig...
– originally an abbreviation for Statistical Analysis System. - SasolSasolSasol Ltd. is a South African company involved in mining, energy, chemicals and synfuels. In particular, they produce petrol and diesel profitably from coal and natural gas using Fischer-Tropsch process...
– Suid-Afrikaanse Steenkool en Olie. (AfrikaansAfrikaansAfrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
for South African Coal and Oil). - Saudi AramcoSaudi AramcoSaudi Aramco , officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.Saudi Aramco is the world's largest and most valuable privately-held company, with estimates of its value in 2011 to be $7 trillion USD.Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves,...
– the Aramco name was derived in 1944 when California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) changed its name to Arabian American Oil Company. The Saudi government purchased the company in 1980, and changed its name to Saudi Arabian Oil Company or Saudi Aramco in 1988. - SCBStandard Chartered BankStandard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries...
– from Standard Chartered Bank. The name Standard Chartered comes from the two original banks from which it was founded – The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, and The Standard Bank of British South Africa. - SchickSchick (razors)Schick is a brand of safety razors by Wilkinson Sword, a subsidiary of Energizer Holdings. It was founded in 1926 by Jacob Schick as the Magazine Repeating Razor Company. In 1934, Schick introduced its highly successful single blade safety razor system, that stored ten blades in a steel injector...
– manufacturer of shaving razors and blades, named after the inventor Jacob SchickJacob SchickCol. Jacob Schick was an American inventor and entrepreneur who patented the first electric razor and started the Schick Dry Shaver, Inc. razor company...
. - SCO – from Santa Cruz Operation. The company's office was in Santa Cruz, CaliforniaSanta Cruz, CaliforniaSanta Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
. It eventually formed Tarantella, Inc.Tarantella, Inc.Santa Cruz Operation was a software company based in Santa Cruz, California which was best known for selling three Unix variants for Intel x86 processors: Xenix, SCO UNIX , and UnixWare. Eric Raymond, in his book The Art of Unix Programming, calls SCO the "first Unix company"...
and sold off its operating system division to Caldera Systems, which is based in Utah. Caldera Systems changed its name to Caldera International and then to The SCO Group (at which point SCO no longer stood for anything). - SEATSEATSEAT, S.A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer founded on May 9, 1950 by the Instituto Nacional de Industria , a state-owned industrial holding company....
– an acronym from Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Corporation of Touring Cars). - Sealed AirSealed AirSealed Air Corporation is a company that makes a variety of packaging materials, systems and equipment. Its brands include Bubble Wrap, Cryovac, Instapak, Shanklin.They have recently moved headquarters to Elmwood Park, New Jersey....
– from the "sealed air" found in its most notable product, Bubble Wrap. - SegaSega, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
– Service Games of Japan was founded by Marty Bromley (an American) to import pinball games to Japan for use on American military bases. - SeikoSeiko, more commonly known simply as Seiko , is a Japanese watch company.-History and ongoing developments:The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the...
– Seiko, now referred to in katakanaKatakanais a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
as セイコー("seiko"), was originally named in kanjiKanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
as 精工(also "seiko"). The two characters were taken from the phrase 「精巧で精密な時計の生産に成功する工場」, the company's vision which roughly translates to "a factory（工場:kojyo）that successfully（成功:seiko）produces（生産:seisan）exquisit（精巧:seiko）and precise（精密:seimitsu）watches". – According to Seiko's official company history, titled A Journey In Time: The Remarkable Story of Seiko (2003), Seiko is a Japanese word for "exquisite" or "minute" (both spelled 精巧), as well as a word for "success" (spelled 成功). - SennheiserSennheiserSennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG is a private German audio company specializing in the design and production of a wide range of both consumer and high fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephony accessories, and avionics headsets for consumer, professional, and business...
– named after one of its founders, Fritz SennheiserFritz SennheiserFritz Sennheiser was a German inventor and entrepreneur who founded and served as chairman of Sennheiser Electronic, a manufacturer of audio equipment.-Early life and education:...
. - setcomSetcomsetcom is a privately owned group of companies with offices in Germany, Malta, Hong Kong and North America....
– software engineering and testing for communications, an international group of companies active in the field of wireless test solutions. - SGISilicon GraphicsSilicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
– Silicon Graphics Inc. - SharpSharp Corporationis a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products. Headquartered in Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan, Sharp employs more than 55,580 people worldwide as of June 2011. The company was founded in September 1912 and takes its name from one of its founder's first...
– Japanese consumer electronics company named from its first product, an ever-sharp pencil. - ShellRoyal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
– Royal Dutch/Shell was established in 1907, when the Royal Dutch Petrol Society Plc. and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd. merged their operations. The Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd had been established at the end of the 19th century by commercial firm Samuel & Co (founded in 1830). Samuel & Co were already importing Japanese shells when they set up an oil company, so the oil company was named after the shells. - SiemensSiemens AGSiemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
– founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske. The company was originally called Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske. - Six ApartSix ApartSix Apart Ltd., sometimes abbreviated 6A, is a software company known for creating the Movable Type blogware, TypePad blog hosting service, and Vox. The company also is the former owner of LiveJournal. Six Apart is headquartered in Tokyo and is planning to open a new, U.S.-based office in New York...
– company co-founders BenBenjamin TrottBenjamin Trott, born , is a co-founder of Six Apart, creator of Movable Type and TypePad. In November 2010, he became Chief Technical Officer of , a new online advertising and software company formed by a merger of ad network VideoEgg with Six Apart.Before joining SAY Media, Trott was also CTO of...
and MenaMena Grabowski TrottMena Grabowski Trott Mena Grabowski Trott Mena Grabowski Trott (born Mena Grabowski on is a co-founder of Six Apart, creator of Movable Type and TypePad. The company name originates from the fact that Trott and co-founder/husband Benjamin Trott were born six days apart....
Trott were born six days apart (in September 1977). - SkanskaSkanskaSkanska AB, is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden, where it also is the largest construction company. The company's head office is in Solna, north of Stockholm.-History:...
– from Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (ScaniaScaniaScania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
n Cement Casting Company) - SKFSKFSKF, Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB , later AB SKF, is a Swedish bearing company founded in 1907, supplying bearings, seals, lubrication and lubrication systems, maintenance products, mechatronics products, power transmission products and related services globally.-History:The company was founded on...
– from Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB, a Swedish manufacturer founded in 1907. See also VolvoVolvoAB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
. - Skoda AutoŠkoda AutoŠkoda Auto , more commonly known as Škoda, is an automobile manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 2000, positioned as the entry brand to the group...
– the car company was founded in 1895 and originally named Laurin & Klement after its founders, Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav KlementVáclav KlementVáclav Klement - was a Czech automotive pioneer, co-founder of what is now Škoda Auto.-See also:* Laurin & Klement...
. It was taken over by Škoda WorksŠkoda WorksŠkoda Works was the largest industrial enterprise in Austro-Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia, one of its successor states. It was also one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Europe in the 20th century...
, an industrial conglomerate, in 1924, and adopted the Škoda name from Emil ŠkodaEmil ŠkodaEmil Ritter von Škoda was a Bohemian engineer and industrialist, working during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.-Biography:...
. Škoda Auto was split off after World War II and is now part of VolkswagenVolkswagenVolkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
. - SkypeSkypeSkype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
– the original concept for the name was Sky-Peer-to-Peer, which morphed into Skyper, then Skype. - SmartSmart (automobile)Smart is an automotive branch of Daimler AG. Smart is a German manufacturer of microcars produced in Hambach, France, and Böblingen, Germany...
– Swatch + Mercedes + Art - SmartBear SoftwareSmartBear SoftwareSmartBear Software is a software company which provides tools for software developers, quality assurance engineers and IT professionals. SmartBear Software is the unification of AutomatedQA, the original Smart Bear Software and Pragmatic Software.-Products:...
– named from "John Irving’s Hotel New Hampshire, a surreal novel in which a 'smart bear' plays an important role," according to founder Jason Cohen. In 2007, he sold to AutomatedQA, which renamed itself after its more memorable subsidiary in 2010. - SmegSmeg (appliances)Smeg is an Italian manufacturer of upmarket domestic appliances.SMEG was founded by Vittorio Bertazzoni in 1948 as Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla in the village of Guastalla, Reggio Emilia, Italy. The company is still in the private ownership of the Bertazzoni family, with Roberto...
– founded by Vittorio Bertazzoni in Italy in 1948 as Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla (metal enamelling factory). - Smilebit – former Sega development studio named from what they hope to make you do (smile), and the smallest unit of computer information (bit). The company developed Jet Set RadioJet Set Radiois a video game for the Dreamcast, developed by Smilebit and published by Sega on June 29, 2000. A 2D version of the game was later released for Game Boy Advance; this version was developed by Vicarious Visions and published by THQ. Its sequel, Jet Set Radio Future was released 2 years later for...
. - SNKSNK PlaymoreSNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
– Shin Nihon Kikaku, Japanese for Plans for a New Japan. - SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
– from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang word used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster, "since we were sonny boys working in sound and vision", said Akio Morita. The company was founded as Tokyo Tsoshiu Kogyo KK (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) in 1946, and changed its name to Sony in 1958. Sony was chosen as it could be pronounced easily in many languages. - SorcimSuperCalcSuperCalc was a spreadsheet application published by Sorcim in 1980, and originally bundled as part of the CP/M software package included with the Osborne 1 portable computer....
– "Micros" backwards. Sorcim was the original publisher of the SuperCalcSuperCalcSuperCalc was a spreadsheet application published by Sorcim in 1980, and originally bundled as part of the CP/M software package included with the Osborne 1 portable computer....
spreadsheet in 1980. It was taken over by Computer Associates. - SPARSPARSpar , trades from approximately 12400 stores in 34 countries worldwide and is the world's largest independent voluntary retail trading chain. Spar was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by retailer Adriaan Van Well and now, through its affiliate organisations, operates through most European...
– originally DE SPAR, from Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (Dutch, meaning "All will benefit from united co-operation"). "De spar" in Dutch translates as "the fir tree", hence the fir tree logo. As the company expanded across Europe, the name was shortened by dropping the article, "DE". - SperrySperry CorporationSperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the twentieth century...
– company founded by Elmer Ambrose SperryElmer Ambrose SperryElmer Ambrose Sperry was a prolific inventor and entrepreneur, most famous as co-inventor, with Herman Anschütz-Kaempfe of the gyrocompass.Sperry was born at Cincinnatus, New York, United States of America...
(1860–1930), originally as Sperry Gyroscope Company. Sperry took over Univac, and eventually was itself taken over by Burroughs. The merged companies became Unisys, from United Information Systems. - SpiratoneSpiratoneSpiratone was a company specializing in low-cost lenses and filters for cameras, lighting, and darkroom equipment.The company was started by Fred Spira in 1941 in the bathroom of his parents' apartment where he developed film. In 1946, it relocated to a large loft on West 27th Street in Manhattan...
– from the last name of founders Fred SpiraFred SpiraFred Spira was an inventor and innovator in photography as well as a collector of photographic equipment, images, books, and ephemera. He is credited as one of three individuals who opened up the U.S. market to quality Japanese photographic goods....
and Hans Spira. The company was founded as Spiratone Fine Grain Laboratories. The "tone" suffix was common in the photographic industry (an example cited by Fred SpiraFred SpiraFred Spira was an inventor and innovator in photography as well as a collector of photographic equipment, images, books, and ephemera. He is credited as one of three individuals who opened up the U.S. market to quality Japanese photographic goods....
is Royaltone) at the time of the company's founding in the 1940s. - SprintSprint NextelSprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
– from its parent company, Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal Communications. At the time, pipelines and railroad tracks were the cheapest place to lay communications lines, as the right-of-way was already leased or owned. - SRAM Corporation – named from its founders Scott King, Stanley Ray Day, and Sam Patterson.
- SRI InternationalSRI InternationalSRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
– from Stanford Research Institute, established by the trustees of Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, California - Stanley WorksStanley WorksStanley Black & Decker , formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a manufacturer of tools and hardware and provider of security products and locks headquartered in New Britain, Connecticut...
– name created to reflect the merger of Stanley's Bolt Manufactory of New Britain, Connecticut (founded by Frederick Trent StanleyFrederick Trent StanleyFrederick Trent Stanley was an American industrialist.He founded Stanley's Bolt Manufactory of New Britain, Connecticut in 1843 to manufacture door bolts and other hardware from wrought iron...
) and the Stanley Rule and Level Company (founded by his cousin Henry Stanley). - StarbucksStarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
– named after Starbuck, a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby-DickMoby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
, also a variation of Starbo; at the time, a local mining camp north of Seattle. - Stellent – coined from a combination of the words stellar and excellent.
- Sturm, RugerSturm, RugerSturm, Ruger & Company, Incorporated is a Southport, Connecticut-based firearm manufacturing company, better known by the shortened name Ruger. Sturm, Ruger produces bolt-action, semi-automatic, full-automatic, and single-shot rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic pistols, and single- and double-action...
– from its founders, Alexander McCormick SturmAlexander McCormick SturmAlexander McCormick "Sandy" Sturm was an American artist and writer who was a co-founder of Sturm, Ruger, a firearms manufacturer...
and William B. RugerWilliam B. RugerWilliam Batterman Ruger partnered with Alexander McCormick Sturm in 1949 to establish Sturm, Ruger & Company. Their first product was the Ruger Standard, the most popular .22 caliber target pistol ever made in the US...
. - STXSTXSTX is a sports equipment manufacturer based in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a subsidiary of Wm. T. Burnett & Co...
– pronounced as the word "sticks" because, when first founded, STX manufactured only lacrosse stickLacrosse stickA lacrosse stick or crosse is a long-handled racket used to play the sport of lacrosse. Players use the lacrosse stick to handle the ball and to strike at opposing players...
s - SubaruSubaru; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...
– from the Japanese name for the constellation known to Westerners as PleiadesPleiades (star cluster)In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters , is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky...
or the Seven Sisters. Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy IndustriesFuji Heavy Industries, or FHI, is a Japanese transportation conglomerate most known for being the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles. It traces its roots to the Nakajima Aircraft Company, a leading supplier of airplanes to the Japanese government during World War II...
, was formed from a merger of six companies, and the constellation is featured on the company's logo. - Sun MicrosystemsSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
– its founders designed their first workstationWorkstationA workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
in their dorm at Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and chose the name Stanford University Network for their product, hoping to sell it to the college. They did not. - SuSESUSE Linux distributionsSUSE Linux is a computer operating system. It is built on top of the open source Linux kernel and is distributed with system and application software from other open source projects. SUSE Linux is of German origin and mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making...
– from Software und System-Entwicklung (software and system development). The company was bought by Novell for its Linux distribution. - SuzukiSuzukiis a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and 4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles , outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines...
– from the name of its founder, Michio Suzuki.
T
- Taco BellTaco BellTaco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...
– named after founder Glen Bell. - TalgoTalgoTalgo is a Spanish manufacturer of railway vehicles. It is best known for a design of articulated railway passenger cars in which the wheels are mounted in pairs, but not joined by an axle, and being between rather than underneath the individual coaches...
– from "Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea-Oriol" (Spanish for "Goicoechea-Oriol Light Articulated Train"), Goicoechea and Oriol being the founders of the company. - TAM Airlines – named from Transportes Aéreos Marília (Marilia's Air Transport). Marília is a city in São Paulo state, Brazil.
- TAP PortugalTAP PortugalTAP Portugal, commonly known as TAP, is the national airline of Portugal. It has its head office in Building 25 on the grounds of Portela Airport in Lisbon, and has been a member of the Star Alliance since 14 March 2005, the same day on which the company celebrated its 60th anniversary...
– from "Transportes Aéreos Portugueses" (Portuguese Air Transport). - Tata GroupTata GroupTata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Tata Group is one of the largest companies in India by market capitalization and revenue. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,...
– conglomerate named after Jamshedji Tata, considered "the father of Indian industry". - TaxanTaxanTAXAN is a subsidiary of Kaga Electronics, a Japanese electronics company. It was founded in July 1981, and in the late-1980s and early-1990s, the US division published several video games on the NES and Game Boy....
– made-up name chosen partly because Takusan is a Japanese word for many or much and was considered propitious, but mainly because the head of the company, in the U.S. at the time, Tak Shimizu was known by everyone as Tak-san. - TCBYTCBYTCBY is an international franchise chain of frozen yogurt stores based in the United States. It is the largest U.S. retailer of soft-serve frozen yogurt with live active cultures....
– Originally, the company's name was "This Can't Be Yogurt", but a lawsuit from a competitor named "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!" forced TCBY to create a new backronym for its initials: "The Country's Best Yogurt". - TCLTCL CorporationTCL Corporation is a multinational electronics company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong, China. In 2010 it was the world's 25th-largest consumer electronics producer and sixth-largest television producer .TCL comprises three listed companies: TCL Corporation , which is listed on the Shenzhen...
– from Today China Lion. Derived from literal translation of "今日中国雄狮" from Chinese to English. - TCSTata Consultancy ServicesTata Consultancy Services Limited is a global IT services, business solutions and outsourcing company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is the largest provider of information technology in Asia and second largest provider of business process outsourcing services in India...
– from Tata Consultancy Services, from India's Tata GroupTata GroupTata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Tata Group is one of the largest companies in India by market capitalization and revenue. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,...
, named after founder and legendary industrialist Jamshedji Tata. - TDK Corporation – from Tokyo Denki Kagaku (Tokyo Electronics and Chemicals).
- TEPCO – Tokyo Electric Power Company
- TescoTescoTesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
– founder Jack Cohen – who sold groceries in the markets of the London East End from 1919 – acquired a large shipment of tea from T. E. Stockwell. He made new labels by using the first three letters of the supplier's name and the first two letters of his surname. - Teva Naot – outdoors shoe company is named after the modern Hebrew word for 'nature'
- TexacoTexacoTexaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
– from The Texas Company U.S.A. - THXTHXTHX is a trade name of a high-fidelity audio/visual reproduction standard for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, and car audio systems. The current THX was created in 2001 when it spun off from Lucasfilm Ltd...
– from Tomlinson HolmanTomlinson HolmanTomlinson M. Holman is an American film theorist, audio engineer, and inventor of film technologies, notably the Lucasfilm THX sound system. He developed the world's first 10.2 sound system. Earlier, Holman developed what was known as the Holman Preamplifier, for the Apt Corporation. He holds a...
Crossover, the name of the technology's inventor and the audio technology of a crossover amplifier. It may be a backronymBackronymA backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
, as the technology is owned by George LucasGeorge LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
's company, and he directed THX 1138THX 1138THX 1138 is a 1971 science fiction film directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. The film is based on a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch...
. - TIBCO SoftwareTIBCO SoftwareTIBCO Software Inc. is a provider of infrastructure software for companies to use on-premise or as part of cloud computing environments. TIBCO manages information, decisions, processes and applications in real-time for over 4,000 customers worldwide...
– The Information Bus Company. The company was founded by Vivek Ranadive as Teknekron Software Systems in 1985. - Tim HortonsTim HortonsTim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast casual restaurant known for its coffee and doughnuts. It is also Canada's largest fast food service with over 3000 stores nationwide. It was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Charade, after an initial venture in...
– Canadian fast food doughnut, sandwich and coffee shop named after founder and hockey player Tim HortonTim HortonMyles Gilbert "Tim" Horton was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in 24 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. He was also a businessman and a co-founder of Tim Hortons. He died in an...
. In Canada Tim Hortons is nicknamed "Tim's" and "Timmy's" -- in America, the chain is nicknamed "Timmy Ho's" - TNT N.V.TNT N.V.TNT N.V., more commonly known as TNT, is an international express and mail delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. In the Netherlands, TNT operates the national postal service under the name TNT Post. The group also offers postal services in eight other European...
and TNT ExpressTNT ExpressTNT Express N.V. is an international express and cargo delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. The firm has fully owned operations in 65 countries and delivers documents, parcels and pieces of freight to over 200 countries...
– Thomas Nationwide Transport, an Australian company which was acquired by the Dutch postal company in 1996. The postal company renamed itself TNT N.V. in 2005. In 2011, TNT N.V. demerged; the express delivery company took the name TNT Express while the postal company renamed itself PostNLPostNLPostNL is a mail, parcel and e-commerce corporation with operations in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. It is listed at Euronext Amsterdam. Formerly a subsidiary of TNT N.V., it became an independent company upon TNT's demerger in May 2011.- History :As decided by a general...
. - ToshibaToshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
– named from the merger of consumer goods company Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co) and electrical firm Shibaura Seisaku-sho (Shibaura Engineering Works). - Toyota – from the name of the founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakanaKatakanais a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan. - Triang – operating name for Lines Bros Ltd, which was founded by William, Walter and Arthur Edwin Lines. Three Lines make a triangle
- TucowsTucowsTucows was formed in Flint, Michigan, USA in 1993. It incorporated in Pennsylvania and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
– an acronym for The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software. - TVRTVRthumb|right|240px|TVR No.2, the oldest surviving TVR, located at [[Lakeland Motor Museum, Newby Bridge, Cumbria]]TVR was an independent British manufacturer of sports cars. Until 2006 it was based in the English seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, but has since split up into several smaller...
– derived from the first name of the company founder TreVoR Wilkinson - TWATwaThe Twa are any of several hunting peoples of Africa who live interdependently with agricultural Bantu populations, and generally hold a socially subordinate position: They provide the farming population with game in exchange for agricultural products....
– derived from Trans World Airlines. Before the airline opened up its first international route from New York to Paris in the 1950s, it was a domestic operation that focused on serving Los Angeles and San Francisco from New York, operating under the name Transcontinental and Western Air. Keeping the initials and rebranding as a global airline was a stroke of marketing continuity genius. - TwiningsTwiningsTwinings is a marketer of tea based in Andover, Hampshire, England.- History :The founder of Twinings, Thomas Twining, opened the first known tea room, at 216 Strand, London, in 1706, which is still operating today. The firm's logo, created in 1787, is one of the world's oldest in continuous use...
– named after founder Thomas Twining, who set up a tea-shop on the Strand in London in 1706. - TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
– Having rejected the name Twitch for their social networking service, co-founder Jack Dorsey says: "we looked in the dictionary for words around it and we came across the word 'twitter' and it was just perfect. The definition was 'a short burst of inconsequential information', and 'chirps from birds'. And that's exactly what the product was."
U
- Ubuntu FoundationUbuntu FoundationThe Ubuntu Foundation is a purpose trust founded by Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd. to ensure the long-term maintenance of the Ubuntu Linux distribution independently of the commercial activities of Canonical Ltd...
– named from a Zulu word (ùɓúntú) that translates as "humanity to others". - UmbroUmbroUmbro is an English sportswear and football equipment supplier based in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England. The company is now part of Nike. Umbro designs, sources, and markets sport-related apparel, footwear, and equipment...
– Umbro was founded in 1924 by the Humphrey (Umphrey) Brothers, Harold C. and Wallace. - UnileverUnileverUnilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
– name created to reflect the merger of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers, agreed in 1929. Lever BrothersLever BrothersLever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...
was named after its founders, William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James. - UNIMEDUNIMEDUnião and Médicos is a Brazilian medical work cooperative and health plan operator. It is considered the largest of its kind in the world, with more than 105,000 affiliated physicians, 386 branches and more than 15 million beneficiaries...
– Brazilian cooperativeCooperativeA cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
of physicians, meaning União de Medicos (Physicians' Union) - UnisysUnisysUnisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:...
– from United Information Systems, the new name for the company that resulted from the merging of two old mainframe computer companies, Burroughs and Sperry [Sperry Univac/Sperry Rand]. It united two incompatible ranges. The new-born Unisys was briefly the world's second-largest computer company, after IBM. - Unocal CorporationUnocal CorporationUnion Oil Company of California, dba Unocal is a defunct company that was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headquartered in El Segundo, California, United States.On August 10, 2005, Unocal merged...
– the Union Oil Company of California, founded in 1890 - UPSUnited Parcel ServiceUnited Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
– United Parcel Service of America, Inc. - UUNETUUNETUUNET founded in 1987, was one of the largest Internet service providers and one of the nine Tier 1 networks. It was based in Northern Virginia and was the first commercial Internet service provider...
– one of the industry's oldest and largest Internet Service Providers, named from UNIX-to-UNIX Network.
V
- VaisalaVaisalaVaisala is a Finnish company that develops, manufactures and markets products and services for environmental and industrial measurement.The major customer groups and markets are national meteorological and hydrological services, aviation authorities, defense forces, road authorities, the weather...
– Finnish company named after its founder, Professor Vilho VäisäläVilho VäisäläVilho Väisälä was a Finnish meteorologist and physicist, and founder of Vaisala.After graduation in mathematics in 1912, Väisälä worked for the Finnish Meteorological Institute in aerological measurements, specializing in the research of the higher troposphere... - Valero Energy Corporation – From Misión San Antonio de Valero, the Spanish-language name of the mission in the company's home city better known as The AlamoAlamo Mission in San AntonioThe Alamo, originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero, is a former Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound, site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, and now a museum, in San Antonio, Texas....
. - ValtraValtraValtra is a Finnish based manufacturer of tractors owned by the AGCO Corporation.-History:Valtra traces its origin to Valmet, Bolinder, Munktell and Volvo. Bolinder-Munktell merged with Volvo in 1950 to form BM Volvo. In 1979, BM Volvo/Volvo BM and Valmet formed a joint venture for tractor...
– from Valmet Tractors, where ValmetValmet' was a Finnish state-owned conglomerate. Valmet was formed in 1951, when the state of Finland decided to group their various factories working on war reparations to the Soviet Union under one company...
is the name of a Finnish state-owned company (originally Valtion Metallitehtaat – English: State Metalworks) - VarigVarigVARIG was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990 it was Brazil's leading and almost only international airline...
– A BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian airline, its name is an abbreviation of Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense, because it was founded in the state of Rio Grande do SulRio Grande do SulRio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
. - VerizonVerizon CommunicationsVerizon Communications Inc. is a global broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average...
– a portmanteau of veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon. - VirginVirgin GroupVirgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...
– founder Richard BransonRichard BransonSir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
started a magazine called Student while still at school. In his autobiography, Losing My Virginity, Branson says that when they were starting a business to sell records by mail order, "one of the girls suggested: 'What about Virgin? We're complete virgins at business.'" - VMware – Virtual Machine 'ware
- VodafoneVodafoneVodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
– from Voice, Data, Telefone. Vodafone made the UK's first mobile call at a few minutes past midnight on 1 January 1985. - VolkswagenVolkswagenVolkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
– from the German for people's car. Ferdinand PorscheFerdinand PorscheFerdinand Porsche was an Austrian automotive engineer and honorary Doctor of Engineering. He is best known for creating the first hybrid vehicle , the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, as well as the first of many Porsche automobiles...
wanted to produce a car that was affordable for the masses – the Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen (or "Strength-Through-Joy car", from a Nazi social organization) later became known, in English, as the Beetle. - VolvoVolvoAB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
– from the Latin word volvo, which means "I roll". It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKFSKFSKF, Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB , later AB SKF, is a Swedish bearing company founded in 1907, supplying bearings, seals, lubrication and lubrication systems, maintenance products, mechatronics products, power transmission products and related services globally.-History:The company was founded on...
.
W
- WachoviaWachoviaWachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets...
– from the Latin version of the German wachau, the name given to a region in North Carolina by German settlers because it reminded them of a river near their home in Germany. Many companies founded in or around Charlotte, North Carolina have Wachovia in their name. - WaitroseWaitroseWaitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...
– upmarket UK supermarket chain originally named after the founders, Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. The Taylor was later dropped. - WalgreensWalgreensWalgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
– named after founder Charles R. Walgreen, Sr. - Wal-Mart – named after founder Sam Walton
- Wang LaboratoriesWang LaboratoriesWang Laboratories was a computer company founded in 1951 by Dr. An Wang and Dr. G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge , Tewksbury , and finally in Lowell, Massachusetts . At its peak in the 1980s, Wang Laboratories had annual revenues of $3 billion and employed over...
– from the name of the founder, An WangAn WangDr. An Wang was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and co-founder of computer company Wang Laboratories.-Early life and career:...
, the inventor of core memory. - Wells FargoWells FargoWells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
– From the founders of the original Wells Fargo companyHistory of Wells FargoThis article outlines the history of Wells Fargo & Company from its origins to its merger with Norwest and beyond. The new company chose to retain the name of "Wells Fargo" and so this article also includes the history after the merger.-Origins:...
, Henry WellsHenry WellsHenry Wells was an American businessman important in the history of both the American Express Company and Wells Fargo & Company.-Early life:...
and William G. Fargo. (When NorwestNorwestNorwest Corporation was a banking and financial services company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. In 1998, it merged with Wells Fargo & Co. and since that time has traded under the Wells Fargo name.-Early formation:...
purchased Wells Fargo in 1998, it chose to retain the Wells Fargo name.) - Wendy'sWendy'sWendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
– Wendy was the nickname of founder Dave ThomasDave Thomas (American businessman)David "Dave" Thomas was an American fast-food entrepreneur and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers...
' daughter Melinda. - Weta DigitalWeta DigitalWeta Digital is a digital visual effects company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. In 2007 Weta Digital’s Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri, was...
– special effects company co-founded by The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings film trilogyThe Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
director Peter Jackson. 'Weta' are a group of about 70 species of insect found in New Zealand, where Weta Digital is based. - W H SmithW H SmithWHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
– founded by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in London, England, in 1792. They named their small newsagent's shop after their son William Henry Smith, who was born the same year. - Williams-SonomaWilliams-SonomaWilliams-Sonoma, Inc. is a high-end American consumer retail company that sells kitchenwares, furniture and linens, as well as other housewares and home furnishings, along with a variety of specialty foods, soaps and lotions...
– founded by Chuck Williams in SonomaSonoma, CaliforniaSonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...
, California. - Wipro – from Western India Palm Refined Oil Ltd Wipro Technologies. The company started as a modest VanaspatiVanaspatiVanaspati is the Sanskrit word that now refers to the entire plant kingdom. However, according to Charaka Samhitā and Sushruta Samhita medical texts and the Vaisesikas school of philosophy, "vanaspati" is limited to plants that bear fruits but no evident flowers...
and laundry soap producer and is now also an IT services giant. - WonderwareWonderwareWonderware is a brand of industrial automation and information software products, owned by Invensys Operations Management , itself a division of the UK technology company Invensys. More than 500,000 software licenses have been sold and installed in over 100,000 plants worldwide...
– Wonderware was the project code name for the company prior to its launch. Upon making the company a legal entity, the code name was retained as the company name. - Worlds of WonderWorlds of Wonder (toy company)Worlds of Wonder or WoW was a 1980s American toy company, founded by former Atari employees, including Don Kingsborough and Mark Robert Goldberg.Their products included:* Teddy Ruxpin, a story telling bear, in 1985...
– founder Don Kingsborough wanted an eyecatching stock symbol, and Worlds Of Wonder provided WOW. The company went bankrupt in 1988. - WPPWPP GroupWPP plc is a global media communications services company with its main management office in London, United Kingdom and its executive office in Dublin, Ireland. It is the world's largest advertising group by revenues, and employs over 150,000 people in 2,400 offices in 107 countries...
– global advertising and marketing company founded by Martin SorrellMartin SorrellSir Martin Sorrell is an English businessman and the chief executive officer of WPP Group. He has served in that role since he started the company.-Biography:...
in 1985. He bought an existing listed company, Wire & Plastic Products PLC, to use as a shell. - WWE – From World Wrestling Entertainment, the name of the company from 2002 to 2011. The previous name of World Wrestling Federation (WWF), used since 1979, was changed after a court case brought by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is now called the World Wide Fund for NatureWorld Wide Fund for NatureThe World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
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X
- XeroxXeroxXerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
– named from xerography, a word derived from the Greek xeros (dry) and graphos (writing). The company was founded as The Haloid Company in 1906, launched its first XeroX copier in 1949, and changed its name to Haloid Xerox in 1958. - XIX EntertainmentXIX EntertainmentXIX Entertainment is an entertainment content and intellectual rights organisation based in North America and Europe. The company, which has been valued at $100 million...
– XIX is 19 in Roman numerals, so the company is named indirectly after Paul Hardcastle's single 19, and directly derived from 19 Entertainment19 Entertainment19 Entertainment, based in Los Angeles, United States, is a creator and producer of entertainment properties based around the areas of Music and Television / Film, including American Idol in the United States, Pop Idol in the United Kingdom as well as versions of the Idol series in more than...
– see above. - XobniXobniXobni is a San Francisco-based company that makes software applications and services including products for Microsoft Outlook and mobile devices. It was founded in March 2006 by Adam Smith and Matt Brezina from Adam's dorm room in Cambridge, Massachusetts as part of the Y Combinator summer...
– inbox, backwards - XTO EnergyXTO EnergyXTO Energy is an American Fortune 500 energy producing company. Its primary products are oil and natural gas. It is based in Downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Its current CEO is Keith Hutton.-History:The company was founded in 1985 as Cross Timbers Oil Company...
– Founded in 1986 as Cross Timbers Oil Company, it went public under the stock ticker XTO, and changed its name to XTO Energy Inc in 2001. It is now owned by Exxon Mobil.
Y
- Yahoo!Yahoo!Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
– The word Yahoo was invented by Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
and used in his book Gulliver's TravelsGulliver's TravelsTravels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and barely human. Yahoo! founders David FiloDavid FiloDavid Filo is an American businessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang.Until the company decided to switch to PHP, his Filo Server Program, written in the C programming language, was the server-side scripting software used to dynamically serve variable web pages, called Filo Server...
and Jerry Yang jokingly considered themselves yahoos. It's also an interjection sometimes associated with United States Southerners' and Westerners' expression of joy, as alluded to in Yahoo.com commercials that end with someone singing the word "yahoo". It is also sometime jokingly referred to by its backronymBackronymA backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
, Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. - YKKYKK GroupThe is a Japanese group of manufacturing companies. As the world's largest zipper manufacturer, YKK Group is most famous for making zippers; however, it also manufactures other fastening products, architectural products, as well as industrial machinery....
– zipper manufacturer named from Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha (Yoshida Company Limited) after the founder, Tadao Yoshida. The letters YKK were stamped onto the zippers' pull tabs. - YakultYakultis a Japanese probiotic milk-like product made by fermenting a mixture of skimmed milk with a special strain of the bacterium Lactobacillus casei Shirota. It was created by Minoru Shirota who graduated from the Medical School of Kyoto University in 1930. In 1935, he started manufacturing and...
– Official claims state that the name is derived from jahurto, an older form of jogurto, the Esperanto word for "yogurt". However, it has also been claimed that the name is derived from the fact that the product was developed from ancient Mongolian practices of culturing yak's milk in a sack made from a yak's stomach – the combination of Yak and Culture in English giving the product name as "Yakult". - YamahaYamahaYamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
– after Torakusu Yamaha, who founded the company as Nippon Gakki Seizō Kabushiki Gaisha (Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Corporation) in 1897 after repairing a reed organ. The official name was changed to Yamaha Corporation on 1 October 1987. - YoplaitYoplaitYoplait is a brand of yogurt produced by a company owned by two French holdings, SODIAAL and PAI Partners.-History:In 1964, 100,000 French farmers merged their regional dairy cooperatives to sell nationally. In 1965, two co-ops, "Yola" and "Coplait", merged, becoming "Yoplait"...
– from the merger of Yola and Coplait in 1965.
Z
- ZamzarZamzarZamzar is a web application to convert files. It was created by brothers Mike and Chris Whyley in England. It allows user to convert files without downloading a software tool. Users can type in a URL or upload one or more files from their computer, Zamzar then converts the file to another format...
– Based on a character (Gregor Samsa) from the Bohemian author Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
's book "The MetamorphosisThe MetamorphosisThe Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world...
". In the novel Kafka describes the story of a young man who is transformed whilst sleeping into a gigantic insect. A version of the man's name was used as the basis for the company name because of its' powerful association with change and transformation. - Zend TechnologiesZend TechnologiesZend Technologies Ltd. is an Israeli world wide web infrastructure software company with headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S., technology center in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, Israel and offices in France, Italy and Germany...
– a contraction derived from the names of Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans, the two founders. - ZERO Corporation – Founded by Herman Zierold as Zierold Metal Corporation, it is the parent company of Zero HalliburtonZero HalliburtonZero Halliburton is a company which manufactures hard-wearing travel cases and briefcases, mainly of aluminum. It was originally a metal fabrication company called Zierold Company, which in 1946 changed its name to Zero Corporation. In 1952 Zero, which until then had no relation to Halliburton,...
. In 1952, when then owner Jack Gilbert noticed that many of the company's customers mispronounced and misspelled "Zierold" as "Zero," he changed the name of the company to Zero Manufacturing. - Zimmer – named after Justin O. Zimmer, who co-founded the medical equipment company in Warsaw, Indiana, in 1927.
- Zuse – pioneering German computer company named after its founder, Konrad Zuse (1910–1995). He built his first computer in his parents' living room at the end of the 1930s. Zuse was taken over by Siemens AGSiemens AGSiemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
. The name is now supposedly echoed by SuSE (Software und System-Entwicklung: "Software and system development").