Logo Ideas - 20 Popular Brand Names and their Origins

Do you get fascinated by the logos of the various companies that you go through? Have you ever wondered how did all those logo and their names come to reality? Behind every brand name there is a story that is untold. All the people because of busy lifestyles are only interested in the brand names. On the contrary there are, still, some individuals who want to dig deep to know the derivative source behind every brand name. Selecting a brand name is really tough. Not everyone can come up with easy to recall and smart brand name. After all, be it any era, customers like to associate with brand names that are simple and easy to memorize. For answering the curiosities of countless individuals, today, I will disclose the origin of different brand names. Following are some top most brand names and their stories behind them.

1. 3M

3M is amongst the famous companies across the globe. The original name of 3M was Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. As the company decided to go creative, it changed its name to 3M. and rest is history.

2. 7 Eleven

This name “7 Eleven” came into existence back in 1946, because of the extended working hours from 07:00 to 23:00 hrs (7 AM to 11 PM). Prior to that the company was named as “U-Tote’M”

3. Lego

Many of the readers must have played with Lego in their childhood. It is a blending of “Leg Godt” – a Danish Term that means “Play Well”. In Latin “Lego” means to “I put together”, though Lego Group declares that the name is by no means inspired from any Latin word.

4. Nintendo

Nintendo is a translation of Japanese name Nintenduo. Where “NIN” means “Entrusted” and TEN-DUO means “Heaven”.

5. Sega

Sega is a short form of “Service Games of Japan”.

6. Skype

The brand name of Skype was derived from a concept “Sky Peer to Peer”.

7. Vodafone

It is an interesting combination of 3 different words, Voice, Data and Telephone.

8. Verizon

Verizon is a blend of two terms, Veritas (Latin word for “Truth”) and horizon.

9. Nokia

The word Nokia is inspired from a city of Finnish, named Nokia. The same company used to deal in wood-pulp from the city of Nokia.

10. Sharp

The brand name is derived from “The Ever-Sharp Mechanical”, which was the first invention of Sharp’s founder.

11. Sony

The term Sony is inspired from 2 words, “Sonus” – a Latin word meaning “Sound” and an American slang “Sonny” which means bright youngster.

12. Nikon

Nikon is a shorter form of Nippon Kogaku, which means “Japnese Optical”.

13. Canon

Cannon is a word inspired from the Kwanon – Japanese name of Buddhist Bodhisattva of Mercy. In 1935 the company changed the name to Canon so that it can be accepted by diversified cultures and religions.

14. Nissan

Most of the people do not know that the company was named as Nippon Sangyo which means “Japan Industries”. They extracted 2 alphabets from first word and three from the other.

15. Volkswagen

In German the word Volkswagen stands for “People’s Car”.

16. Wendy’s

Those who have taste buds for some amazing burgers must definitely go crazy for Wendy’s. Wendy’s founder was Dave Thomas and he named his brand name on his daughter’s pet name.

17. Starbucks

The finest coffee house Starbucks is named after a character of a novel named “Moby-Dick” which was penned by Herman Melville.

18. WalMart

Sam Walton established the most famous super store on his own name i.e. Wal-Mart.

19. Pepsi

The largely consumed beverage brand extracted its name from a particular type of enzyme named “Pepsin”. Isn’t it interesting?

20. Reebok

Reebok is derived from the Rhebok, which is a type of African antelope. It is inspired from the Afrikaans spelling.

Many individuals use different products from different brand names and some are also addicted to them but they don’t know the meaning and origin of their beloved brand names.