How Did Big Tech Companies Get Their Names?

If fifteen years ago you were to say to someone, “I’ll just Google it.”, they might have that you were starting to lose it. The same could be said about many other companies, like Yahoo!, where people might actually think you are a “yahoo”. Despite the unusual names, it’s clear that neither Google nor Yahoo! have been hurting, but still… where did the names come from?

In a quick article by PC World, six companies, including both of the aforementioned, are tackled, and believe it or not, some of the origins are not all too exciting. For Google, the word is just a spin off of “googol”, which is the art of turning a humongous number into one that’s a bit easier to read (eg: 10⁷). In a sense, Google is a perfect name, since the search engine’s goal is to give you the best results without having to sort through a billion pages.

The story behind Yahoo! is a bit more interesting, though, because the original name of the search engine was… get this, “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web”. Gee, I wonder how that didn’t stick? Why the co-founders stuck with Yahoo!, I’m not sure, but it’s definitely worked out for them.

Or how about ASUS? Probably a bit more guessable, “ASUS” comes from “Pegasus”, a mythical creature. But the company’s founder, Jonney Shih, figured out that a company name that begins with A would be nicely placed in a list, and for that reason only the last four letters of Pegasus were used. Smart move.

You can read more into these names and a few others at the source below.

Asus’s creators say they chose Pegasus because they felt their company would “embod[y] the strength, creative spirit, and purity symbolized by this regal and agile mythical creature, soaring to new heights of quality and innovation with each product it introduces to the market.” Yikes — is it just me, or does this explanation sound a bit like a mythical tale itself?