The Meaning of Brand Names

THE MEANING OF BRAND NAMES Fania Nintendo NIKE FANTA NINTENDO At a brainstorming session, the Nike naturally appeals to athletes that have first place in While the true meaning of the head of Coca-Cola company's name is hotly their sights - its name comes Deutschland told his team to debated among fans, 'Leave use their Fantasie, which is the luck to heaven' is one popular from the Ancient Greek German word for imagination. It didn't take much goddess of victory. translation. imagination to come up with Fanta! SAMSUNG PANDORA O HYUNDAI SAMSUNG PANDORA HYUNDAI In Korean sam means three In Greek mythology Pandora Known primarily as an was given the gift of music from Apollo. and sung means star, so automobile manufacturer, Samsung literally means Hyundai (which means tristar or three stars. The 'modernity' in Korean) also create products for industries as varied as aerospace, steel number three meanwhile represents something 'big, numerous and powerful'. and engineering. NIVEA Caditllac DASANI NIVEA CADILLAC DASANI Niveus is Latin for snow white Named after the founder of Consumer testing apparently - the purity of this image is Detroit, a French explorer suggested the completely reflected in the color of the called Antoine de la Mothe made-up name evoked pureness and replenishment, although after its botched launch in the UK many have company's skin cream. Cadillac, the name is intended to evoke a pioneering spirit. joked it actually means 'filtered tap water'. Reebok A TROJAN ALDI REEBOK ALDI TROJAN J.W. Foster and Sons was Aldi is a portmanteau of The most popular condom renamed Reebok after the Albrecht (the surname of brand in America was named founder's grandson discovered founders Karl and Theo) and after the Trojan race, who were the name for an antelope (grey Diskont, which is the German known for their virility. Just rhebok) in a South African for discount. don't mention Trojan viruses! dictionary. durex Jägermeiſter TM DUREX STARBUCKS JAGERMEISTER The British-born condom on While one story suggests the Translated literally from the other hand is simply an company was named after Starbuck, the chief mate on German, Jägermeister means abbreviation of Durable 'master of hunters'. The Reliable Excellence. the Pequod whaling ship from the classic novel Moby-Dick, hunting theme runs through the brand, as the label co-founder Gordon Bowker features a poem by a hunter and a reference to the patron suggests someone simply saw Starbo on an old mining map saints of hunters, Saint and adapted it. Hubertus and Saint Eustace. LEGO TRESemmé USED BY PROFESSIONALS" LEGO VOLKSWAGEN TRESEMME Lego comes from a contraction At a time when German roads Apparently named after hair of the Danish phrase leg godt, were primarily reserved for the rich, Volkswagen, which care expert Edna Emmé, the which means 'play well'. name is also meant to sound means 'People's Car' in like the French phrase German, offered something très-aimé, which means much different. loved. SONY PANTENE adidas PRO-V PANTENE SONY ADIDAS The Swiss shampoo brand Sonus is the Latin word for Contrary to popular belief chose to highlight its product's sound, but the name also Adidas does not stand for 'All Day I Dream About Sports', but considering themselves 'sonny is instead a portmanteau of wonder ingredient, the comes from the founders pro-vitamin of vitamin B5 the founder's name Adolf (Adi) panthenol, which had recently boys', a borrowed word in been discovered by scientists Japanese that suggests smart Dassler. during WWII. young men. Nirgia Breddit Gillette Venüs. VIRGIN REDDIT VENUS According to Richard Branson's autobiography, an employee While the website's name is Venus is the female equivalent obviously a play on 'read it', of Gillette, a razor for men. suggested the name as they it's coincidental that a loose Venus is also the Roman were all 'new' at business. Latin translation of reddit equivalent of Aphrodite, the means 'render' ('to submit for Greek goddess of love, sex and approval'), which is what fertility. redditors do. Kodak O TOYOTA PEZ KODAK TOYOTA Originally named after its founder Kiichiro Toyoda, the PEZ comes from Pfefferminz, Founder George Eastman the German word for believed a trademark should peppermint and the sweet's be short, incapable of being company name was changed original flavor. Today the misspelled, and 'must mean to Toyota in 1937. Among the sweets are available in more nothing'. He was also a fan of reasons for the name change than a dozen different the letter K. The result: the was the fact that toyoda varieties. made up word Kodak. literally means 'fertile rice paddies'. Häagen-Dazs SPARA VOLVO HAAGEN-DAZS SPAR VOLVO Invented to sound Danish DE SPAR is an acronym of Door Volvo was founded as a (even though Danish doesn't use umlauts!), the Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (Dutch for 'Through united co-operation everyone regularly profits). De Spar is subsidary of a ball bearing company - so it's appropriate foreign-sounding name of this that the name comes from the American ice cream was Latin word for 'I roll'. chosen to position it as a premium product. Dutch for 'the spruce', which also explains the tree in the logo. Etsy SUBARU. Nikon NIKON ETSY SUBARU Nikon is short for Nippon In a Reader's Digest interview, Subaru means 'unite' in Kogaku, which means founder Robert Kalin revealed Japanese, but it's also a term Japanese Optical - not he wanted a made-up name for a collection of stars said by surpising since the company is and watched foreign films for Greek mythology to be the inspiration, during which he misheard the Italian eh, si ('oh, best known for creating daughter of Atlas, the titan of cameras. astronomy and navigation. yes') as 'etsi'. Sources Lufthansa verizon thenextweb.com/ businessinsider.com/ boredpanda.com/ wikipedia.org LUFTHANSA VERIZON 7brands.com/ Luft is the German word for When Bell Atlantic and GTE 'air' while 'Hansa' comes from merged a new name was created by cominbining the Hanseatic League, a confederation of merchant veritas (Latin for truth) and guilds that existed across horizon, which represents, 7Brands Northern Europe from the integrity, respect, imagination and passion. 14th - 16th century.