Acorn Computer
Glans (W3)

Video processor for Acorn/BBC computer

Acorn designed an early home computer for the BBC in the 1981. The graphical display was assisted by this semi-custom integrated circuit designed by a research team in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and manufactured by Ferranti in Manchester.
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"acorn": Acorn Sprite Image

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The ACORN file type is primarily associated with 'Acorn' by Apple Inc.. Acorn is a graphics program for the Macintosh. Designed for simple editing, Acorn features flood fill, gradients, vector shapes, drawing and erasing tools, and more. It also includes chaining filters and easy image and canvas resizing.
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Acorn zählt zu den Homecomputer-Pionieren, wobei die Geräte immer etwas ernsthafter als die anderer Hersteller waren - weniger auf Spiele ausgerichtet, sondern mit zahlreichen Schnittstellen für eigene Basteleien ausgestattet. Außerhalb von Großbritannien nahm kaum jemand von den Geräten Notiz. Das änderte sich, als die BBC überraschend als Hauptdarsteller für eine neue Computersendung den "Acorn Proton" anstelle des Sinclair Spectrum auswählte. Der Rechner wurde dann als "BBC A" bzw. "BBC B" recht bekannt.
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Acorn - Modell: Atom | BBC B | Electron | BBC B+ | BBC Master | A310 | A420/I | A4000 | A3000 | A5000

"Acorn": nom propre, féminin. [entreprise]. Constructeur britannique, actif entre 1978 et 1998, date à laquelle il fut scindé en plusieurs sociétés indépendantes. A produit entre autres l'Archimedes. Les ordinateurs Acorn ont été surtout utilisés dans l'éducation en Angleterre, mais aussi dans la publication, pour la musique (avec le logiciel Sibelius) et aussi pour l'édition vidéo (avec les produits d'Eidos) (d'après Vincent Lefèvre).

176 results for "acorn"

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The new name to be announced early next year will be "more reflective of our silicon and software future and less opaque", he says. Well, the meaning of "Acorn" [= dt. "Eichel"] is clear enough. The Latin for "Acorn" is "glans" [lat. "glans" = dt. "Eichel"]. "Glans clitoris" and "glans penis" - Chambers tells us - are respectively the extremity of the clitoris and of the penis. We can assume the etymology was forged from the shape of the Acorn.
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Acorn computer

In the 1980's many British schools and homes were outfitted with Acorn desktop computers. Founded in 1978, "Acorn Computers Company" developed their own operating system (OS) for their "Acorn computer" called "RISC OS". Unable to keep ahead of the Wintel movement, in September 1998 Acorn Company announced that all work on Acorn desktop computers had ceased.

The Acorn company was eventually bought out by Pace Micro Technology plc.

"ARM": Benannt nach dem Mikroprozessor, der von dem kleinen, britischen Unternehmen "Acorn" als Nachfolger des 6502 aus dessen BBC-Mikrocomputer entwickelt wurde. "ARM" stand ursprünglich für "Acorn Risc Machine" ("RISC" ist eine Abkürzung aus dem IT-Bereich, die eine Bauart von Prozessoren bezeichnet). Als das Unternehmen Unterstützung von Apple und VTI erhielt, wurde der Name zu "Advanced Risc Machines" geändert.

Ballantines

Brand (W1)

Caldey (W3)

Christie's
Featured Auctions and Events

Christie's commitment to excellence began in the auction house's early years when "James Christie" conducted his first sale on 5 December 1766. A levelheaded businessman famed for his eloquence and humor, Christie turned auctioneering into a sophisticated art.
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Comcast (W3)

danstopicals
Dan's Topical Stamps (More than 3000 stamps are shown)

You can browse my collections, or locate a particular stamp in the Catalog using Scott Catalog numbers. (Michel and Stanley Gibbons catalog numbers are included for most of the map stamps.) Some stamps appear more than once, and they are listed more than once. Some stamps, or stationery have no numbers. They will be supplied when I find them. To see the Scott Catalog number for the stamp on a page, hover the arrow-point cursor on the stamp and the number will appear in a couple of seconds.

Because a collection, by nature, is never completed, this website will never be complete. It will continue to grow as my collections grow. If you don't find what you are looking for now, you may find it later if you come back (especially if you let me know what you are looking for).

Art | Bayeux Tapestry | Maps on Stamps | Detective Fiction | Halley's Comet | Writing | Manuscripts & Printed Books | Martin Luther | Runic Inscriptions | Scandinavian Flags | South Dakota | Stamp Stories | Stave Churches | The Terracotta Warriors | What Do You See? | Resources

ESSO

Gammon Records (W3)

His Master's Voice
HMV (W3)

"His masters voice" = "redet, wie der Chef denkt" (Edwin Tschopp)

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In February 1909, the company introduced new labels featuring the famous trademark known as "His Master's Voice," generally referred to as HMV, to distinguish them from earlier labels which featured an outline of the Recording Angel trademark. The latter had been designed by Theodore Birnbaum, an executive of the Gramophone Company pressing plant in Hanover, Germany. The Gramophone Company was never known as the HMV or His Master's Voice company. An icon of the company was to become very well known - the picture of a dog listening to an early gramophone painted in England by Francis Barraud. The painting "His Master's Voice" was made in the 1890s with the dog listening to an Edison cylinder Phonograph, which was capable of recording as well as playing, but Thomas Edison did not buy the painting.

In 1899, Owen bought the painting from the artist, and asked him to paint over the Edison machine with a Gramophone, which he did. Technically, since Gramophones did not record, the new version of the painting makes no sense, as the dog would not have been able to listen to his master's voice (the master being Barraud's deceased brother). In 1902, Eldridge Johnson of Victor Talking Machine Company acquired US rights to use it as the Victor trademark, which began appearing on Victor records that year. UK rights to the logo were reserved by Gramophone. Nipper lived from 1884 to 1895 and is buried in England with a celebrated grave marker.
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Kurzbeschreibung
Als Slobodan Milosevic während der Massenproteste 1989 den Demonstranten zurief: »Ich kann Sie nicht verstehen«, konnte er nicht wissen, daß dieser Satz zum geflügelten Wort wurde, das immer dann Anwendung fand, wenn man etwas nur allzu gut verstand. Seine Entgegnung auf die stimmgewaltigen Demonstranten zeigt, daß die Stimme den Kern der Politik betrifft: die vox populi und die Taubheit der Politiker, das Stimmrecht und das Überhören einer Stimmung. Die Stimme ist eines der flüchtigsten Dinge überhaupt und erweist sich doch als eines der komplexesten Phänomene. So gibt es auch kaum einen Bereich der Theorie, der ohne eine Analyse der Stimme auskäme: Von der Linguistik zum Vorwurf des Logophonozentrismus in der Dekonstruktion über die innere Stimme als moralisches Gebot, der Gesangsstimme als ästhetische Erfahrung bis hin zur Radiostimme als mitunter massenmedialer Indoktrination reicht das Spektrum der Themen. Dem slowenischen Philosophen und Kulturtheoretiker Mladen Dolar gelingt es, diese vielfältigen Themen in einer Theorie der Stimme zu bündeln. Ihre besondere Qualität ist, systematische Aspekte mit historischen Darstellungen zu verknüpfen und so die theoretische Evidenz aus der Fülle der Phänomene zu gewinnen. Es eröffnet sich ein Feld, das kaum einen Aspekt der modernen Theorie unberücksichtigt läßt: die Linguistik, Physik und Metaphysik, die Ethik, Politik und Ästhetik der Stimme und nicht zuletzt die besonderen Stimmen bei Freud und bei Kafka.

Jaguar (W3)

Johnnie Walker, Striding Man (W3)

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Als junger Mann mit dem "richtigen Riecher" kombinierte "John Walker" Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts die bis dato kratzigen und nach Rauch schmeckenden schottischen Single Malts zu einem einzigen, geschmackvoll-harmonischen Whisky. Dank seiner guten Nase wurde aus "John Walker" ein erfolgreicher Blendmaster. Selbst die große Flut von Kilmarnock konnte 1852 das florierende Unternehmen der Walkers nicht ruinieren und bereits fünf Jahre später wurde Wiedereröffnung gefeiert. Kurz danach starb John Walker und sein Sohn Alexander übernahm die Leitung.

Der Unternehmer hatte einen hohen Anspruch: "Lasst nicht zu, dass irgendjemand einen besseren Whisky macht als wir!" Eine unbegründete Sorge: Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts trinkt bereits das gesamte britische Empire Whisky aus dem Hause Walker. 1889 übernehmen die Söhne Alexander II und George die Geschäfte und als 1909 bei einem gemeinsamen Dinner der Karikaturist Tom Browne "seinen" "Johnnie Walker" auf eine Speisekarte kritzelt, ist der "Striding Man" ("schreitender Mann") geboren: Symbol für erstklassigen Whisky und - ebenso wie die rechteckige Flasche und die schräge Etikette - visuelles Markenzeichen für das Haus Johnnie Walker.

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Der Begründer gilt bis heute als genialer Blendmaster. Da wundert es kaum, dass sein Porträt in Form des legendären Striding Man das Etikett ziert. Johns nachfolgende Generationen machen das Produkt Johnnie Walker zu dem, was es heute ist: der meistgetrunkene Whisky der Welt!
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Kenwood (W3)

Über uns
Im Jahr 1947 gründete "Kenneth Wood" das Unternehmen "Woodlau Industries", dessen Namen er kurz darauf in "Kenwood" änderte.
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Kenwoods zentraler Firmensitz liegt in Havant in der englischen Grafschaft Hampshire/England mit einer Niederlassung in Hong Kong zur Koordination des Asiengeschäfts.
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Dezember 1946
In Nagano, Japan, wird die "Kasuga Radio Co., Ltd.", eine Firma zur Produktion und Entwicklung von Radiokomponenten und Hoch- frequenztransformatoren, gegründet. Sie trägt heute den Namen "Kenwood Corporation".
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Wichtiger Hinweis:
Die "Kenwood Electronics Deutschland GmbH" hat als Tochterunternehmen des japanischen Unterhaltungselektronikspezialisten, der "Kenwood Corporation", außer dem gemeinsamen Namen nichts mit dem Haushaltsgeräte-Hersteller "Kenwood Ltd." zu tun.

Lipton Tea (W3)

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Sir Thomas Lipton war nicht nur ein hervorragender und visionärer Geschäftsmann, sondern auch Abenteurer, Weltenbummler, passionierter Segler und Lebemann. Eine schillernde und beeindruckende Persönlichkeit also.
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MG (W3)

Oxfam
Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (W3)

Philately (W3)

George Herpin was a French stamp fancier back in the 1860s, when stamps were a fairly new invention. Before stamps, the recipient of a letter - not the sender - had to pay the postage. Stamps forced the sender to foot the bill, and created a lot of stamp lovers among folks on the receiving end of the mail - and a mania for stamp collecting. "Timbromania" was toyed with as a term to affix to this new hobby - from the French word for stamp, "timbre". But when Herpin suggested "philatelie" (anglicized to "philately"), combining the Greek root "phil-", meaning "loving", with Greek "ateleia", meaning "tax-exemption", stamp lovers everywhere took a fancy to it and the name stuck.

Today (October 09, 2007) we put our stamp of approval on World Post Day, a day established by the Universal Postal Union (a specialized agency of the United Nations) to commemorate the founding of the UPU in 1874.

"Philately" is both a fancy term for "stamp collecting" and the proper name for "the collection and study of postage stamps and of postal stationery that has passed through the mail". What's the difference? Stamp collectors may be more interested in acquisition and display, while "philatelists" may study the paper, the watermarks, the topics, or the history of the stamps.

As for the word "philately" itself, we would wager word lovers recognize the Greek combining form "phil-" meaning "love", "affinity for". But where does "ately" originate? Think Greek, and think "tax exemption", "immunity". That was the meaning that developed from the Greek "ateles", meaning "free from tax or tribute", "immune from public duties". Back in the 19th century, when the word (if not the concept of) "philately" was born, the attachment of a postage stamp exempted the mailer from having to pay the usual mailing charges or taxes.

"Philately" is the collection and study of postage stamps and of materials relating to their history. People began collecting postage stamps soon after the first one was issued in 1840, and the scholarly study of stamps - their history and details like watermarks, perforations, and cancellations - followed within decades. Though their primary purpose is to provide proof of postage payment, stamps also serve as a sort of historic record.

"PHILATELY", the study and collection of postage-stamps and other marks of prepayment issued by post-offices. The fancy for collecting postagestamps began a short time after the issue of the first British penny and two-penny stamps in 1840 (see Post and PostAL SERVICE). Dr Gray, an official of the British Museum, began collecting them soon after their appearance, and an advertisement in an issue of The Times of 1841 asks for gifts of cancelled stamps for a young lady. In 1842 the new hobby was ridiculed in Punch.

It was not until about 1860, however, that stamp collecting began to be systematically carried on with full regard to such minutiae as the different kinds of paper, water-marks, perforation, shade of colour and distinctive outline. About 1862 a teacher in Paris directed that foreign stamps should be collected and pasted upon the pages of his pupils' atlases and geographies according to countries, and this may have been the first form of the systematic classification of stamps in a collection.

Of existing collections the oldest were begun between 1853 and 1860, by which year French collectors had assumed especial prominence. Professional dealers now made their appearance, and in 1861 philatelic literature, now of vast extent, was inaugurated by the publication in Strasburg of a catalogue of stamps issued up to that time.

The Paris collectors were the first to classify stamps, measure them by the gauge, note the water-marks and separate the distinct issues of each country. Collecting with due regard to the relationship of different issues is called plating. The first English catalogue was issued in 1862, followed in December of the same year by The Stamp Collector's Review and Monthly Advertiser, published in Liverpool, the first philatelic periodical, the second, The Stamp Collector's Magazine, appearing in 1863. In 1863 also appeared Le TimbrePoste, a Brussels journal. Up to 1910 over 8oo philatelic periodicals had appeared.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

"philately"

The collection and study of postage stamps, postmarks, and related materials; stamp collecting.

ETYMOLOGY:

French "philatélie": Greek "phil-", "philo-", + Greek "ateleia", "exemption from payment" (because a postage stamp indicates prepayment of postage) ("a-", "without"; see "a–" (1) + "telos", "tax", "charge"; see "tel-" in Appendix I).

OTHER FORMS:

• "philatelic", "philatelical" —ADJECTIVE
• "philatelically" —ADVERB
• "philatelist" —NOUN

Commemorative covers from 1897

Special Event philately

Two envelopes or covers are shown here from Canada in 1897. Between them they illustrate the birth of a branch of stamp collecting that has spawned quite a modern industry.
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Philately - Stamp Collecting

The first stamp was issued in 1840, the penny black. The penny red replaced it in 1841. In 1864 Georges Herpin coined the term "philately" which replaced previous terms for a collector of stamps.
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"philately", noun

1. the collecting of stamps and other postal matter as a hobby or an investment.

2. the study of postage stamps, revenue stamps, stamped envelopes, postmarks, postal cards, covers, and similar material relating to postal or fiscal history.

"Philately" entered English in the 1860s and comes from the Greek roots "phil-" meaning "love", and "atéleia" meaning "freedom from charges". This second element refers to the recipient's freedom from delivery charges thanks to the stamp affixed to the letter.

"philately" (n.)

"stamp-collecting", 1865, from French "philatélie", coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (in "Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste," Nov. 15, 1864), from Greek "phil-" "loving" (see "philo-") + "ateleia" "exemption from tax", the closest word Herpin could find in ancient Greek to the concept of "postage stamp" (from "a-" "without" + "telos" "tax"; see "toll" (n.)). A reminder of the original function of postage stamps, now often forgotten: the cost of letter-carrying formerly was paid by the recipient; stamps indicated it had been pre-paid by the sender, thus the letters were "carriage-free".

"Stampomania" (1865) also was tried. "Stamp-collecting" is from 1862.

Related: "Philatelic"; "philatelism"; "philatelist".

Related Entries: "philo-", "stamp", "toll"

Luff, John N., 1860-1938

What Philately Teaches
A Lecture Delivered before the Section on Philately of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, February 24, 1899 (English) (as Author)

"philately", noun

Definition of philately: the collection and study of postage and imprinted stamps : stamp collecting

Other Words from "philately"

• "philatelic", adjective
• "philatelically", adverb

Did You Know?

Who wouldn't love something tax free? George Herpin did. He was a French stamp fancier back in the 1860s, when stamps were a fairly new invention. Before stamps, the recipient of a letter - not the sender - had to pay the postage. Stamps forced the sender to foot the bill, and created a lot of stamp lovers among folks on the receiving end of the mail - and a "mania" for stamp collecting. "Timbromania" was toyed with as a term to affix to this new hobby - from the French word for "stamp", "timbre". But when Herpin suggested "philatélie" (anglicized to "philately"), combining the Greek root "phil-", meaning "loving", with Greek "ateleia", meaning "tax-exemption", stamp lovers everywhere took a fancy to it and the name stuck.

First Known Use of philately: circa 1865, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for "philately"

French "philatélie", from "phil-" + Greek "ateleia" "tax exemption", from "ateles" "free from tax", from "a-" + "telos" "tax"; perhaps akin to Greek "tlenai" "to bear"; from the fact that a stamped letter frees the recipient from paying the mailing charges — more at "tolerate".

History and Etymology for "tolerate"

Latin "toleratus", past participle of "tolerare" "to endure", "put up with"; akin to Old English "tholian" "to bear", Latin "tollere" "to lift up", "latus" "carried" (suppletive past participle of "ferre"), Greek "tlenai" "to bear".

John Walter Scott
Born: 2-Nov-1845, Birthplace: London, England
Died: 4-Jan-1919, Location of death: New York City
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Occupation: Stamp Collector, Business
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Father of American Philately

John Walter Scott began collecting stamps in his teens in London, and after coming to America he organized the first stamp collectors' auctions. In June 1867 he published his first of fifteen monthly one-page stamp price lists, which evolved into the first Scott catalog, A Descriptive Catalogue of America and Foreign Postage Stamps, published in 1868. The Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue remains essential to stamp collectors, and collectible postage stamps are still referenced by their "Scott numbers".
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Limericks on "aerophilately"

• aerophilately
• astrophilately
• philatelic
• philatelic-forgeries
• philatelic-forgery
• philatelical
• philatelically
• philatelically-inspired
• philatelist
• philatelists
• philately

Rolls Royce, Spirit of Ecstasy, Emily, Silver Lady, Flying Lady (W3)

Shell (W3)

shell (n.)

Old English "sciell", "scill", Anglian "scell" "seashell", "eggshell", related to Old English "scealu" "shell", "husk", from Proto-Germanic "*skaljo" "divide", "separate" (cf. West Frisian "skyl" "peel", "rind", Middle Low German "schelle" "pod", "rind", "egg shell", Gothic "skalja" "tile"), with the notion of "covering that splits off", from PIE root "*(s)kel-" "to cut", "cleave" (see scale (n.1)).

Sense of "mere exterior" is from 1650s; that of "hollow framework" is from 1791. Meaning "structure for a band or orchestra" is attested from 1938. Military use (1640s) was first of hand grenades, in reference to the metal case in which the gunpowder and shot were mixed; shell shock first recorded 1915. Shell game "a swindle" is from 1890, from a version of three-card monte played with a pea and walnut shells.

shell (v.)

1560s, "to remove (a nut, etc.) from a shell," from shell (n.). The meaning "to bombard with shells" is first attested 1856. To shell out "disburse" (1801) is a figurative use from the image of extracting nuts. Related: Shelled; shelling.

Shell - 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.

superbrands - Brands - Firmennamen - Markennamen - Black & Decker - Monopoly - Pentax

"Black & Decker" began life in 1910, when two young Americans, "Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker" formed their own manufacturing company. To raise the initial capital needed for their fledgling enterprise, Duncan Black sold his treasured Maxewell-Briscoe car, whilst Alonzo Decker borrowed an equal sum.
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In 1933, as America struggled to emerge from the Depression, Charles Darrow decided to invent a new board game to play with his friends and, he hoped, make himself some money. For the board he used a piece of oilcloth that had been a table covering, and he made the houses and hotels from scraps of wooden moulding. The cards and title deeds were all handwritten and the original tokens were reputedly from his wife's charm bracelet.
Demand for the game grew and Darrow increased his daily output to six sets by contracting the board production out to a printer friend. He soon contracted out the entire printing and packaging, and began selling to department stores, John Wanamaker in Philadelphia being the first to put the game on sale in 1934. When orders started to arrive in wholesale quantities he offered to sell the concept to Parker Brothers, the world's largest games manufacturer. Initially the company turned down "Monopoly" on the grounds that it was too long and complicated and contained 52 fundamental playing errors. Darrow decided to market the game on his own, and when Parker Brothers heard of its phenomenal success in 1935 they reconsidered and bought the rights.
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Asahi Optical Company was established in Japan in 1919 as a producer of spectacle lenses. In 1923 it started making lenses for motion picture projectors and in 1931 it produced the first still camera lens. In 1948 it began manufacturing prism binoculars, and launched the Asahiflex in 1951, the first Japanese 35mm SLR. The instant return mirror was introduced in 1954, and in 1957 the first Asahi camera to carry the name Pentax appeared.
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Trenchcoat

Waitrose (W3)

Groceries | Entertaining | Wine Cases | Flowers & Gifts | Garden | Inspiration | Recipes | OFFERS | TV

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When Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor opened their first small grocery shop at 263 Acton Hill, West London in 1904, little did they know that within a century the company would have become one of the country's leading food retailers employing over 37,000 people.
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Food Glossary

Cooking glossary

Waitrose: Diese britische Supermarktkette wurde nach zwei der Gründer benannt: Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose, David Taylor

wikipedia
Companies named after people

• #
• 20th Century Fox - William Fox
• A
• A&M Records - Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss
• A&W Restaurants - after Roy Allen and Frank Wright
• Abbott Laboratories - Wallace Calvin Abbott (1888)
• Abercrombie & Fitch - David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch
• Abrams Air Craft - Talbert Abrams
• Abt Sportsline - Johann Abt
• Adam Opel GmbH - Adam Opel
• Adidas - Adi Dassler
• A. G. Edwards - Albert Gallatin Edwards
• Agusta - Giovanni Agusta
• AGV - Gino Amisano (Amisano Gino Valenza)
• Ajo Motorsport - Aki Ajo
• Albert Heijn and Ahold (Albert Heijn Holdings) - Albert Heijn
• Aldi - Theo and Karl Albrecht (ALbrecht DIscount)
• Alessi - Giovanni Alessi
• Alex von Falkenhausen Motorenbau - Alex von Falkenhausen
• Alza - ALex ZAffaroni.
• AMG - Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher (Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach)
• Amon - Chris Amon
• Amstrad - Alan Sugar (Alan Michael Sugar Trading)
• Anatra - Artur Antonovich Anatra
• Andrea Moda Formula - Andrea Sassetti
• Anheuser-Busch - Lilly and Eberhard Anheuser, and Adolphus Busch
• Ann Summers - Annice Summers, secretary of founder Caborn Waterfield
• Ansaldo - Giovanni Ansaldo
• The Anschutz Corporation - Philip Anschutz
• Arai Helmet - Hirotake Arai
• Archer Daniels - George A. Archer and John W. Daniels
• Armani - Giorgio Armani
• Arrows - Franco Ambrosio, Alan Rees, Jackie Oliver, Dave Wass, and Tony Southgate
• ARTA - Aguri Suzuki (Autobacs Racing Team Aguri)
• Arzani-Volpini - Egidio Arzani and Gianpaolo Volpini
• AS Watson - Alexander Skirving Watson
• Aston Butterworth - Bill Aston and Archie Butterworth
• Aston Martin - Lionel Martin
• Audi - August Horch (audi is Latin for horch which means listen in English)
• Avery Dennison Corporation - R. Stanton Avery
• AviaBellanca Aircraft - Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
• B
• B&Q - Richard Block and David Quayle
• Bacardi - Facundo Bacardí
• Baedeker's - Karl Baedeker
• Bajaj Auto - Jamnalal Bajaj
• Baker Curb Racing - Gary Baker and Mike Curb
• Baker International (to Baker Hughes) - Reuben C. Baker
• Baldwin Locomotive Works - Matthias W. Baldwin
• Ball Corp. - the Ball Brothers
• Bandini Automobili - Ilario Bandini
• Bang & Olufsen - Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen
• Banta Corporation - George Banta, Sr.
• Barilla Group - Pietro Barilla
• Barnardo's - Thomas John Barnardo
• Barnes & Noble - William Barnes and G. Clifford Noble
• Barneys New York - Barney Pressman
• Bashas' - Eddie Basha, Sr.
• Baskin-Robbins - Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins
• Bass & Co - William Bass
• Bausch and Lomb - John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb
• Bayer - Friedrich Bayer
• BBS - Heinrich Baumgartner and Klaus Brand (Baumgartner Brand Schiltach)
• BEA Systems - Bill Coleman, Ed Scott, and Alfred Chuang.
• Beck's - Heinrich Beck (1873)
• Beckman Coulter - Arnold O. Beckman
• Behra - Jean Behra
• Bell Aircraft - Lawrence Bell
• Bell Telephone Company, Bell System - Alexander Graham Bell
• Bellasi - Guglielmo Bellasi
• Ben & Jerry's - Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
• Benbros - Jack and Nathan Beneson (BENeson BROtherS)
• Benelli - Teresa Benelli
• Benetton Group - Luciano Benetton
• Benz & Cie. (later Daimler-Benz) - Karl Benz
• Beretta - Bartolomeo Beretta
• Beriev - Georgy Beriev
• Berluti - Alessandro Berluti
• Berton - Pieter BERvoets and Ron TON
• Bertone - Giovanni Bertone
• Bianchi Bicycles - Edoardo Bianchi
• Bickerton - Harry Bickerton
• Bimota - Valerio BIanchi, Giuseppe MOrri, and Massimo TAmburini.
• Black & Decker - S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker
• Blohm + Voss - Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss
• Bloomberg L.P. - Michael Bloomberg
• Bloomingdale's - Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale
• Boardman Bikes - Chris Boardman
• Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving - Bob Bondurant
• Bocar - BOb CARnes
• Boeing - William Boeing
• Bölkow - Ludwig Bölkow
• Bombardier Inc. - Joseph-Armand Bombardier
• Bonhams - Walter Bonham
• Bonnier Group - Gerhard Bonnier
• Borders Group - Tom and Louis Borders
• Boro - BOb and ROdy Hoogenboom
• Bose Corporation - Amar Bose
• Brabham - Jack Brabham
• Brawn GP - Ross Brawn
• Brentano's - August Brentano
• Brewco Motorsports - Clarence and Tammy Brewer
• Brad Jones Racing - Brad Jones
• Brian Hart Ltd. - Brian Hart
• Bridgestone - Shojiro Ishibashi; The name comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi, meaning "stone bridge".
• Briggs & Stratton - Stephen Foster Briggs and Harold M. Stratton
• Britek Motorsport - Jason BRIght
• Brooks Locomotive Works - founded by Horatio G. Brooks
• Brooks Sports - An anglicized version of Bruchs, the maiden name of founder Morris Goldberg's wife
• Brun Motorsport - Walter Brun
• Bugatti - Ettore Bugatti
• Buick - David Dunbar Buick
• Bulgari - Sotirios Bulgari
• Bulova - Joseph Bulova
• BVD - Messrs. Bradley, Voorhees and Day
• C
• C&A - Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer
• Cadbury - John Cadbury
• Cagiva - Giovanni Castiglioni (CAstiglioni GIovanni VArese)
• Callaway Cars - Reeves Callaway
• Callaway Golf Company - Ely R. Callaway, Jr.
• Calvin Klein - Calvin Klein
• Campagnolo - Tullio Campagnolo
• Campari - Davide Campari
• Campbell Soup Company - Joseph A. Campbell
• Carl Zeiss AG - Carl Zeiss
• Carlyle Group - Thomas Carlyle (indirectly, via the Carlyle Hotel)
• Casio - Tadao Kashio
• Celine - Celine Vipiana
• Cerruti 1881 - Nino Cerruti
• Chanel - Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel
• Charles Schwab Corporation - Charles R. Schwab
• Chase National Bank (to Chase Manhattan Bank and JPMorgan Chase & Co.) - in honor of Salmon P. Chase
• Chip Ganassi Racing - Chip Ganassi
• Christie's - James Christie
• Christian Dior - Christian Dior
• Chrysler - Walter Chrysler
• Citroën - André Citroën
• Cizeta - Claudio Zampolli
• CKE Restaurants - founded as Carl Karcher Enterprises
• Claud Butler - Claud Butler
• Cokin - Jean Coquin
• Collins Radio Company - Arthur A. Collins
• Colnago - Ernesto Colnago
• Coloni - Enzo Coloni
• Colt's Manufacturing Company, Colt Defense, Colt Canada - Samuel Colt
• Condé Nast Publications - Condé Montrose Nast
• Connolly Leather - John Connolly
• Cooper Car Company - Charles and John Cooper
• Coors Brewing Company, Adolph Coors Company - Adolph Coors
• Cord Automobile - Errett Lobban Cord
• Corel - Michael Cowpland (COwpland REsearch Laboratory)
• Cosworth - Mike COStin and Keith DuckWORTH
• Courage Compétition - Yves Courage
• Cox Models - Roy Cox
• Crane & Co. - Stephen Crane or the Crane family
• Cray Research - Seymour Cray
• Cummins - Clessie Cummins
• Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (to Curtiss-Wright) - Glenn Curtiss
• Cushman & Wakefield - J.Clydesdale Cushman and Bernard Wakefield
• D
• D. G. Yuengling & Son - David, Jr. and David G. Jüngling (anglicized surname)
• d’Antin MotoGP - see Pramac d'Antin
• Daimler-Benz (later DaimlerChrysler, now Daimler AG) - Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz
• Dallara - Gian Paolo Dallara
• Damiani - Enrico Grassi Damiani
• Danelectro - Nathan Daniel
• Dargaud - Georges Dargaud
• Dassault Group - Marcel Dassault
• Datsun - Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama and Meitaro Takeuchi
• Dauer Sportwagen - Jochen Dauer
• David Lloyd Leisure - David Lloyd
• David Price Racing - David Price
• DBZ Guitars - Dean B. Zelinsky
• De Agostini - Giovanni De Agostini
• Dean & DeLuca - Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca
• Dean Guitars - Dean Zelinsky
• Debian - IAN Murdock and his girlfriend, DEBra.
• Deere & Company - John Deere
• Dell - Michael Dell
• Deloitte - William Welch Deloitte
• De Lorean Motor Company - John De Lorean
• De Tomaso - Alejandro de Tomaso
• Dick Johnson Racing - Dick Johnson
• Dick's Sporting Goods - Dick Stack
• Dillard's - William T. Dillard
• Dolce & Gabbana - Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana
• Don Bluth Entertainment - see Sullivan Bluth Studios
• Douglas Aircraft Company (to McDonnell Douglas) - Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.
• The Dow Chemical Company - Herbert Dow
• Dow Jones & Company - Charles Dow and Edward Jones
• Ducati - Antonio Cavalieri Ducati
• Duesenberg - Fred and August Duesenberg
• Duke Energy - James Buchanan Duke
• Duke Video - Peter Duke
• Dunlop - John Boyd Dunlop
• Dunlop Manufacturing - Jim Dunlop
• DuPont - Eleuthère Irénée du Pont
• Dyson - James Dyson
• E
• Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates - Dale Earnhardt (Sr.), Chip Ganassi, Felix Sabates
• Eastman Kodak - George Eastman
• Easton - Doug Easton
• Eatons - Timothy Eaton
• Eddie Bauer - Eddie Bauer
• Eddie Jordan Racing - Eddie Jordan
• Edelbrock - Vic Edelbrock
• Edison Records - Thomas Edison
• Eli Lilly and Company - Eli Lilly
• Ellis Briggs - Leonard Ellis and Thomas Briggs
• Ericsson - Lars Magnus Ericsson
• Ermenegildo Zegna - Ermenegildo Zegna
• Ernst Paul Lehmann Patentwerk
• Estée Lauder Companies - Estée Lauder
• EuroBrun - Walter Brun
• F
• Fabbri Group - Romolo Fabbri
• Falabella - Salvatore Falabella
• FB Mondial - Fratelli Boselli
• Felt Bicycles - Jim Felt
• Fender - Leo Fender
• Fendi - Edoardo Fendi
• Ferguson Research - Harry Ferguson
• Ferragamo - Salvatore Ferragamo
• Ferranti - Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti
• Ferrari - Enzo Ferrari
• Ferrero - Pietro Ferrero
• Ferretti Group - Alessandro and Norberto Ferretti
• Filippi Boats - Filippi Lido
• Fioravanti - Leonardo Fioravanti
• Fisher-Price - Herman Fisher and Irving Price
• Fitch Ratings - John Knowles Fitch
• Fittipaldi Automotive - Emerson and Wilson Fittipaldi
• Focke-Wulf - Henrich Focke and Georg Wulf
• Fokker - Anthony Fokker
• Forbes - B. C. Forbes
• Forti - Guido Forti
• Fox Racing - Geoff Fox
• Fox Racing Shox - Bob Fox
• Franck Muller - Franck Muller
• Frank Williams Racing Cars - Frank Williams
• FranklinCovey - Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Covey
• Franklin Mint - believed to be named in honor of Benjamin Franklin
• Frazer Nash - Archibald Frazer-Nash
• Frost French - Sadie Frost and Jemima French
• G
• Galles Racing - Rick Galles
• Galmer - Rick GALles and Alan MERtens
• Gannett Company - Frank Gannett
• Garmin - GARy Burrell and Dr. MIN Kao
• Gartner - Gideon Gartner
• Garry Rogers Motorsport - Garry Rogers
• Gatti's Pizza - Pat Eure, née Gatti, wife of company founder Jim Eure
• Gemballa - Uwe Gemballa
• Getty Images - Mark Getty
• Getty Oil - John Paul Getty
• Ghirardelli Chocolate Company - Domingo Ghirardelli
• Giannini - Tranquillo Giannini
• Gibson Guitar Corporation - Orville Gibson
• Gibson Motor Sport - Fred Gibson
• Gilbarco - Charles Gilbert and John Barker (GILbert & BARker Manufacturing CO.)
• Gilera - Giuseppe Gilera
• Gillet - Tony Gillet
• Gillette - King C. Gillette
• Girard-Perregaux - Constant Girard and Marie Perregaux
• Gitzo - Arsène Gitzhoven
• Givenchy - Hubert de Givenchy
• Glenn L. Martin Company (to Lockheed Martin) - Glenn Luther Martin
• Glenn Seton Racing - Glenn Seton
• Glock - Gaston Glock
• GN - H.R. Godfrey and Archibald Frazer Nash
• Godin - Robert Godin
• Goldman Sachs - Marcus Goldman and Samuel Sachs
• Goldwyn Picture Corporation - Samuel GOLDfish, Edgar and Archibald SelWYN
• Goodrich Corporation - Benjamin Goodrich
• Gottlieb - David Gottlieb
• Gresini Racing - Fausto Gresini
• Gretsch - Friedrich Gretsch
• GT Bicycles - Gary Turner
• Gucci - Guccio Gucci
• Guinness - Arthur Guinness
• Gumpert - Roland Gumpert
• H
• H&R Block - Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch
• Haas Automation - Gene Haas
• Haas Lola - Carl Haas
• Hachette Filipacchi Médias - Louis Hachette and Daniel Filipacchi
• Halliburton - Erle P. Halliburton
• Hamann Motorsport - Richard Hamann
• Hammond Organ - Laurens Hammond
• Hanna-Barbera Productions - William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
• Harley-Davidson - William Harley and Arthur Davidson
• Harman Kardon - Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon
• Haro Bikes - Bob Haro
• HarperCollins - James Harper and William Collins
• Harrah's Entertainment - William F. Harrah
• Harvey Norman - Gerald Harvey and Ian Norman
• Hasbro - the HASsenfeld BROthers
• Hasegawa Corporation - Suguro Hasegawa
• Hasselblad - Victor Hasselblad
• Hearst Corporation - William Randolph Hearst
• Heckler & Koch - Edmund Heckler and Theodor Koch
• Heineken International - Gerard Adriaan Heineken
• Hendrick Motorsports - Rick Hendrick
• Hennessy - Richard Hennessy
• Herpa - Wilhelm Hergenröther (HERgenröther und PAtente)
• The Hershey Company - Milton Hershey
• Hesketh Racing, Hesketh Motorcycles - Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh
• Heuer - see TAG Heuer
• Hewitt Associates - Ted Hewitt
• Hilton Hotels - Conrad Hilton
• H. J. Heinz Company - Henry John Heinz
• H. K. Porter, Inc - Henry Kirke Porter
• HKS - Hiroyuki Hasegawa and Goichi Kitagawa (plus Sigma Automotive)
• Holman Moody - John Holman and Ralph Moody
• Honda - Soichiro Honda
• Honeywell - Mark Honeywell
• Horlicks - James Horlick and William Horlick
• Hormel - George A. Hormel
• Hornby Railways - Frank Hornby
• Hoshino Impul - Kazuyoshi Hoshino
• Hovnanian Enterprises - Kevork Hovnanian
• Hughes Aircraft, Hughes Tool Company (to Baker Hughes), Hughes Airwest - Howard Hughes
• Hugo Boss - Hugo Boss
• I
• IKEA - Ingvar Kamprad, who was from a family farm called Elmtaryd, which was near the village of Agunnaryd.
• Ilmor - Mario ILlien and Paul MORgan
• illy - Andrea Illy
• Ilyushin - Sergey Ilyushin
• Innocenti - Ferdinando Innocenti
• Irmscher - Günther Irmscher
• Italdesign Giugiaro - Giorgetto Giugiaro
• J
• Jack Daniel Distillery - Jack Daniel
• Jackson Guitars - Grover Jackson
• Jacuzzi - The Jacuzzi brothers
• J. C. Bamford - Joseph Cyril Bamford
• JCPenney - James Cash Penney
• The Jim Henson Company - Jim Henson
• J.J. Newberry - John Josiah Newberry
• Jil Sander - Heidemarie "Jil" Sander
• Jimmy John's - Jimmy John Liautaud
• Jo-Han - JOhn HANley
• Joe Gibbs Racing - Joe Gibbs
• Joest Racing - Reinhold Joest
• John Cooper Works - John Cooper
• John Deere - John Deere
• Johnson & Johnson - Robert Wood Johnson I, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson
• Johnson Publishing - John H. Johnson
• Jones Lang Wootton - the last names of its three principal members
• Jordan Grand Prix - Eddie Jordan
• JTG Daugherty Racing - Jodi and Tad Geschickter and Brad Daugherty
• Judd - John Judd
• Junkers - Hugo Junkers
• K
• Kaiser Aluminum, Kaiser Motors, Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser Shipyards, Kaiser Steel - Henry J. Kaiser
• Kaiser-Frazer - Henry J. Kaiser and Joseph W. Frazer
• Kärcher - Alfred Kärcher
• Kawasaki Heavy Industries - Shozo Kawasaki
• Kellogg Company - Will Keith Kellogg
• Kelly Racing - John and Margaret Kelly
• Kimberly-Clark - John A. Kimberly and Charles B. Clark
• King Kullen - Michael J. Cullen, he replaced the "C" with a "K" for marketing purposes.
• Knight Ridder - John S. Knight (Knight Newspapers, Inc.) and Herman Ridder (Ridder Publications, Inc.)
• Koei - Ko Shibusawa and Eiji Fukuzawa (non-existent people)
• Koenigsegg - Christian von Koenigsegg
• Kohl's - Max Kohl
• Kohlberg Kravis Roberts - Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., Henry Kravis, and George R. Roberts
• Kojima Engineering - Matsuhisa Kojima
• Kojima Productions - Hideo Kojima
• Konami - Kagemasa KOuzuki, Yoshinobu NAkama, Tatuso MIyasako (another theory was Hiro Matsuda, and Shokichi Ishihara
• Konrad Motorsport - Franz Konrad
• Kraft Foods - James L. Kraft
• Kremer Racing - Erwin and Manfred Kremer
• Kroger - Bernard Henry Kroger
• Kurtis Kraft - Frank Kurtis
• Kuzma - Eddie Kuzma
• L
• Lafarge - Joseph-Auguste Pavin de Lafarge
• Laidlaw - Robert Laidlaw
• Lamborghini - Ferruccio Lamborghini
• Lancia - Vicenzo Lancia
• Larrousse - Gérard Larrousse
• Lauda Air - Niki Lauda
• Lavazza - Luigi Lavazza
• Laverda - Pietro Laverda
• Lazard - Alexandre Lazard, Simon Lazard, and Elie Lazard
• LDS - Louis Douglas Serrurier
• Lee Enterprises - A. W. Lee
• Lagardère Group - Jean-Luc Lagardère
• Lehman Brothers - Henry Lehman, Emanuel Lehman, and Meyer Lehman
• LeMond Racing Cycles - Greg LeMond
• Leslie - Donald Leslie
• Lesney Products - Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith
• Levi Strauss & Co. - Levi Strauss
• Li Ning Company Limited - Li Ning
• Lidl - named for Ludwig Lidl
• Life - Ernesto Vita (surname is Italian for life)
• Ligier - Guy Ligier
• Lincoln National Corporation - to convey the integrity of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
• Liz Claiborne - Liz Claiborne
• Lockheed Corporation (to Lockheed Martin) - Allan Haines Loughead and Malcolm Loughead
• Loews Theatres and Loews Corporation - Marcus Loew
• Lorillard Tobacco Company - Pierre Abraham Lorillard
• Lotte - The Sorrows of Young Werther character Charlotte
• Louis B. Mayer Pictures (to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) - Louis B. Mayer
• Louis Vuitton - Louis Vuitton
• Lucasfilm - George Lucas
• LVMH - see separate entries of Louis Vuitton, Moët et Chandon and Hennessy
• M
• Macy's - Rowland Hussey Macy
• Mahindra & Mahindra Limited - K.C. Mahindra and J.C. Mahindra
• Maki - MimurA KenjI
• Malaguti - Antonio Malaguti
• Mamiya - Seichi Mamiya
• Manfrotto Group - Lino Manfrotto
• Mansory - Kourosh Mansory
• March Engineering - Initials of Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker, and Robin Herd
• Marchese - Carl Marchese
• Marconi Company - Guglielmo Marconi
• Marcus Marshall Motorsport - Marcus Marshall
• Mark Levinson - Mark Levinson
• Marks & Spencer - Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer
• Marriott Corporation (later split into Host Marriott and Marriott International) - J. Willard Marriott
• Mars, Incorporated - Frank C. Mars
• Marsh & McLennan Companies - Henry W. Marsh and Donald R. McLennan
• Marshall Amplification - Jim Marshall
• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia - Martha Stewart
• Martini - Tico Martini
• Martini & Rossi - Alessandro Martini and Luigi Rossi
• Marzotto - Luigi Marzotto
• Messerschmitt - Willy Messerschmitt
• Matsushita Electric Industrial - Konosuke Matsushita
• Matrox - Branko MAtic and Lorne TROttier (and eXcellence)
• Mattel - Harold MATT Matson and ELliot Handler
• Mauser - Wilhelm and Paul Mauser
• Maybach - Wilhelm and Karl Maybach
• Maytag - F. L. Maytag
• Mazda - Jujiro Matsuda, also possibly inspired by Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda.
• McAfee - John McAfee
• McCaw Cellular - Craig McCaw
• McDonald's - Dick and Mac McDonald
• McDonnell Aircraft (to McDonnell Douglas) - James Smith McDonnell
• McGraw-Hill - John A. Hill and James H. McGraw
• McKesson Corporation - John McKesson
• McLaren - Bruce McLaren
• Mellon Financial Corporation - Thomas Mellon
• Mercedes - named by Emil Jellinek for his daughter Mercédès Jellinek
• Merck - Friedrich Jacob Merck
• Merrill Lynch - Charles E. Merrill and Edmund C. Lynch
• Merzario - Arturo Merzario
• MGM or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - Samuel Goldfish, Edgar and Archibald Selwyn, and Louis B. Mayer.
• Miele - Carl Miele
• Mikoyan - Artem Mikoyan
• MillenWorks - Rod Millen
• Minardi - Giancarlo Minardi
• Miramax Films - Max and Miriam Weinstein (parents of founders)
• Mitel - Michael Cowpland and Terry Matthews (MIke and TErry's Lawnmowers)
• Mitsuoka - Akio Mitsuoka
• Moët et Chandon - Claude Moët
• Molson - John Molson
• Momo - Giampiero Moretti (MOretti MOnza)
• Mondadori - Arnoldo Mondadori
• Montague Bikes - David Montague
• Monteverdi - Peter Monteverdi
• Moog Music - Dr. Robert Moog
• Morbidelli - Giancarlo Morbidelli
• Morgan Stanley - Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley
• Moto Guzzi - Carlo Guzzi
• Moto Morini - Alfonso Morini
• MV Agusta - Vincenzo and Domenico Agusta
• N
• Nakajima Racing - Satoru Nakajima
• Nakamichi - Etsuro Nakamichi
• Namco - Masaya Nakamura (NAkamura Manufacturing COmpany)
• Nardi - Enrico Nardi
• Nash Motors - Charles Warren Nash
• Neiman Marcus - Herbert Marcus, Sr., Carrie Marcus Neiman and A. L. Neiman
• Nero AG - Nero
• Nestlé - Henri Nestlé
• Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing - Paul Newman, Carl Haas and Mike Lanigan
• Newman's Own - Paul Newman
• Nielsen - Arthur Charles Nielsen, Sr.
• Niki - Niki Lauda
• Nordstrom - John W. Nordstrom
• Northrop - Jack Northrop
• O
• Offenhauser - Fred Offenhauser
• Office Kitano - Takeshi Kitano
• Öhlins - Kenth Öhlins
• Oldsmobile - Ransom E. Olds
• Olin Corporation - Franklin W. Olin
• Olivetti - Camillo Olivetti
• Orton Ceramic Foundation - Edward Orton, Jr.
• Osella - Enzo Osella
• Otis Elevator Company - Elisha Otis
• Otto GmbH - Michael Otto
• P
• Pagani - Horacio Pagani
• Panoz - Don Panoz
• Patek Philippe & Co. - Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe
• Pathé - Charles and Émile Pathé
• Paul Cruickshank Racing - Paul Cruickshank
• Paul K. Guillow, Inc. - Paul K. Guillow
• Paul Morris Motorsport - Paul Morris
• Peavey Electronics - Hartley Peavey
• Penske Corporation - Roger Penske
• PerkinElmer - Richard Scott Perkin and Charles Elmer
• Perot Systems - H. Ross Perot, Jr.
• Perry Ellis International - Perry Ellis
• Petty Enterprises - Lee Petty
• Peugeot - Armand Peugeot
• Pfizer - Charles Pfizer
• Philip Morris International and Philip Morris USA - Philip Morris
• Piaggio - Rinaldo Piaggio
• Pinarello - Giovanni Pinarello
• Pininfarina - Sergio Pininfarina
• Pirelli - Giovanni Battista Pirelli
• Pontiac - Chief Pontiac
• Porsche - Ferdinand Porsche
• Powell Peralta - George Powell and Stacy Peralta
• Prada - Mario Prada
• Pramac d'Antin - Luis d'Antin
• Pressman Toy Corporation - Jack Pressman
• PricewaterhouseCoopers - Samuel Lowell Price, Edwin Waterhouse, William Cooper
• Procter & Gamble - William Procter and James Gamble
• Prost Grand Prix - Alain Prost
• PRS Guitars - Paul Reed Smith
• Pye - William George Pye
• Q
• Qvale - Bruce Qvale
• Quaife - Rod Quaife
• R
• Räikkönen Robertson Racing - Kimi Räikkönen and Steve Robertson
• Railton - Reid Railton
• Rainer-Wurz.com - Markus Rainer and Alexander Wurz
• Ralt - Ron and Austin Lewis Tauranac
• RAM Racing - Mike RAlph and John Macdonald
• Rawlings - George and Alfred Rawlings
• RE Amemiya - Asami Amemiya
• Rebaque - Hector Rebaque
• Reiter Engineering - Hans Reiter
• Rensi-Hamilton Racing - Ed and Sam Rensi and Bobby Hamilton, Jr.
• REO Motor Car Company - Ransom E. Olds
• Reuters - Paul Reuter
• Reynard Motorsport - Adrian Reynard
• Richard Childress Racing - Richard Childress
• Richard Petty Motorsports - Richard Petty
• Rickenbacker - Adolph Rickenbacher
• Riddell - John Tate Riddell
• Rieger Tuning - Toni Rieger
• Riese und Müller - Markus Riese and Heiko Müller
• Ripspeed - Keith Ripp
• Riley & Scott - Bob Riley and Mark Scott
• Riley Technologies - Bob and Bill Riley
• Rinspeed - Frank RINderknecht
• Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera - Angelo Rizzoli
• R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) - R. J. Reynolds
• RML Group - Ray Mallock
• Robeez - Sandra Wilson's son Robert
• Robert Bosch GmbH - Robert Bosch
• Robert Yates Racing - see Yates Racing
• Roberts Radio - Harry Roberts
• Rockefeller Group - John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
• Rockwell International, North American Rockwell, Rockwell Semiconductor - Willard Rockwell
• Rod Millen Motorsports - see MillenWorks
• Rod Nash Racing - Rod Nash
• Rogers Communications - Edward S. "Ted" Rogers
• Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works - Thomas Rogers
• Rogers Vacuum Tube Company - Edward S. Rogers, Sr.
• Rolls-Royce plc, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars - Charles Rolls and Henry Royce
• Rondel Racing - RON Dennis and Neil TrunDLE
• Rossetti Architects - Gino Rossetti and Matthew L. Rossetti
• Roush Performance, Roush Fenway Racing - Jack Roush
• RPG Group - Rama Prasad Goenka
• RSA Security - Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman
• Rudge-Whitworth - Daniel Rudge
• Ruf Automobile - Alois Ruf
• Ryanair - Tony Ryan
• S
• Sainsbury's - John James Sainsbury
• Saks Fifth Avenue - Andrew Saks
• Saleen - Steve Saleen
• Sam's Club - Sam Walton
• Santoni - Andrea and Rosa Santoni
• Sauber - Peter Sauber
• Savoia-Marchetti - Umberto Savoia and Alessandro Marchetti
• Sbarro - Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro
• S. C. Johnson & Son - Samuel Curtis Johnson, Sr.
• Schnitzer Motorsport - Josef and Herbert Schnitzer
• Schumacher Racing Products - Cecil Schumacher
• Schwinn Bicycle Company - Ignaz Schwinn
• Scott - Ed Scott
• Sears - Richard Warren Sears
• Formerly Sears, Roebuck - Sears and Alvah Roebuck
• Seeburg Corporation - Justus Sjöberg (Anglicized name)
• Seedorf Racing - Clarence Seedorf
• Shakespeare Fishing Tackle - William Shakespeare, Jr.
• Shanghai Tang - David Tang
• Sherwin-Williams Company - Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams
• Shimano - Shozaburo Shimano
• Shugart Associates - Alan Shugart
• Siemens AG - Werner von Siemens
• Sikorsky Aircraft - Igor Sikorsky
• Simpson Performance Products - Bill Simpson
• Sinclair Radionics, Sinclair Research, Sinclair Vehicles - Clive Sinclair
• Singer Corporation - Isaac Merritt Singer
• Skip Barber Racing School - Skip Barber
• Smith & Wesson - Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson
• Sopwith Aviation Company - Thomas Sopwith
• Sotheby's - John Sotheby
• Spice Engineering - Gordon Spice
• SRAM Corporation - Scott King, Stanley Ray Day, and SAM Patterson
• Standard & Poor's - Henry Varnum Poor
• Stanley Works - Frederick Trent Stanley
• Stern - Sam Stern
• Stewart Grand Prix - Jackie and Paul Stewart
• Stewart Haas Racing - Tony Stewart and Gene Haas (via Haas Automation)
• Stewart-Warner - John K. Stewart and Arthur P. Warner
• Stihl - Andreas Stihl
• Stillen - STeve MILLEN
• Stone Brothers Racing - Ross and Jim Stone
• Stutz Motor Company - Harry C. Stutz
• Sukhoi - Pavel Sukhoi
• Don Bluth Entertainment - Don Bluth and Morris Sullivan
• Sumitomo Group - Sumitomo Masatomo
• Super Aguri F1 - Aguri Suzuki
• Surtees - John Surtees
• Suzuki - Michio Suzuki
• Swarovski - Daniel Swarovski
• T
• Taft Broadcasting - Charles Phelps Taft
• TAG Heuer - Eduardo Heuer
• Tamiya - Yoshio Tamiya
• Tanfoglio - Tanfoglio Giuseppe
• Taser International - Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle
• Tata - Jamsetji Tata
• Team Goh - Kazimuchi Goh
• Team LCR - Lucio Cecchinello
• Ten Kate Racing - Gerrit ten Kate, named after his nephew Ronald's motorcycle dealership Ten Kate Motorcycles
• Tesco - amalgamation of TES (from T. E. Stockwell) and CO (from Jack Cohen)
• Tesla Motors - named in honor of Nikola Tesla
• Testor Corporation - Nils Testor
• Thomas B. Jeffery Company - Thomas B. Jeffery
• Thomas Cook Group, Thomas Cook Airlines - Thomas Cook
• Various named after Elihu Thomson:
• Alstom
• Thomson SA
• Thomson-CSF (now Thales Group)
• Thomson-Houston Electric Company (now General Electric)
• Thomson Corporation - Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
• THX - Tomlinson Holman
• Tiffen - Sol Tiffen
• Tim Hortons - Tim Horton
• Timken Company - Henry Timken
• Tokuma Shoten - Yasuyoshi Tokuma
• Toleman - Ted Toleman
• Tom Walkinshaw Racing - Tom Walkinshaw
• Tommy Kaira - Yoshikazu Tomita and Kikuo Kaira
• TOM'S - Nobuhide Tachi and Kiyoshi Oiwa (Tachi Oiwa Motor Sport)
• Toni & Guy - Giuseppe "Toni" and Gaetano "Guy" Mascolo
• Towers Perrin - John Towers and Charles Perrin
• Toyota Motor - Kiichiro Toyoda
• Toyota Industries - Sakichi Toyoda
• Triple F Racing - Paul, Todd and Dean Fiore
• Trump Organization - Fred Trump
• Tupolev - Andrei Tupolev
• Tupperware Brands - Earl Tupper
• Turner Broadcasting System - Ted Turner
• TVR - TreVoR Wilkinson
• TVS Motors, TVS Electronics - T. V. Sundram Iyengar
• Tyrrell Racing - Ken Tyrrell
• U
• Ukrop's - Joseph Ukrop
• Umbro - Harold and Wallace Humphreys (HUMphrey BROthers)
• V
• Valentino - Valentino Garavani
• Vanwall - Tony VANdervell (and ThinWALL bearings)
• VDL Bova - J.D. Bova
• Veilside - Hiranao Yokomaku. "Yoko" translates as "side" and "maku" as "veil"
• Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing - Velco "Vel" Miletich and Parnelli Jones
• Versace - Gianni Versace
• Verville Aircraft Company - Alfred V. Verville
• Vibram - VItale BRAMani
• Vroom & Dreesmann - Willem Vroom and Anton Dreesmann
• W
• Waitrose - Wallace WAITe and Arthur ROSE
• Walgreens - Charles Rudolph Walgreen
• Wal-Mart - Sam Walton
• Walkinshaw Racing - Tom Walkinshaw
• The Walt Disney Company - Walt Disney
• Walter Wolf Racing - Walter Wolf
• Wang Laboratories - An Wang
• Warburtons - Ellen and Thomas Warburton
• Warner Bros. - Jack Warner, Sam Warner, Harold Warner, and Albert Warner
• Wegmans - John and Walter Wegman
• Wells Fargo - Henry Wells and William Fargo
• Wendy's - Dave Thomas' daughter Melinda "Wendy" Thomas
• Weslake - Harry Weslake
• Westinghouse Electric - George Westinghouse
• WHSmith - William Henry Smith
• Wiesmann - Martin and Friedhelm Wiesmann
• Williams Manufacturing Company, (to) Williams Electronics - see WMS Industries
• Williams Grand Prix Engineering - Frank Williams
• Winchester, Winchester Repeating Arms - Oliver Winchester
• WMS Industries, WMS Gaming - Harry E. WilliaMS
• Wood Brothers Racing - Glen, Leonard, Delano, Clay, and Ray Lee Wood
• W. R. Grace and Company - William Russell Grace
• Wright Company, Wright Aeronautical (to Wright-Martin) - Orville and Wilbur Wright
• Wrigley Company - William Wrigley Jr.
• W. W. Norton - William Warder Norton
• X
• Y
• Yakovlev - Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev
• Yamaha Corporation - Torakusu Yamaha
• Yates Racing - Robert Yates
• Yokomo - Tomoaki Yokobori (spun off from a model shop named YOKObori MOdel Shop)
• Yves Saint Laurent - Yves Saint Laurent
• Yuke's - Yukinori Taniguchi
• Z
• Zagato - Ugo Zagato
• Zakspeed - Erich ZAKowski
• Zend Technologies - ZEev Suraski & ANDi Gutmans
• Zust - Roberto Züst

wikipedia
List of company name etymologies

• #
• 20th Century Fox - Film studio; formed in 1935 through the merger of William Fox's Fox Film, and Twentieth Century Pictures.[1]
• 23andme - Using the 23 pairs of chromosomes that make up each person's genome, the company helps individuals make sense of their own (me) genome.[2]
• 37signals - Web development company; named for the 37 radiotelescope signals identified by astronomer Paul Horowitz as potential messages from extraterrestrial intelligence.[3]
• 3Com - Network technology producer; the three coms are computer, communication, and compatibility.[4]
• 3M - from the company's original name, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.[5]
• 7-Eleven - Convenience stores; renamed from "U-Tote'm" in 1946 to reflect their newly extended hours, 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m.[6]
• A
• A&M Records - named after founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss[7]
• A&P - from Atlantic & Pacific in Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, a U.S.-based supermarket chain.
• A&W Root Beer - named after founders Roy Allen and Frank Wright[8]
• ABN AMRO - in the 1960s, the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (Dutch Trading Society; 1824) and De Twentsche Bank merged to form the Algemene Bank Nederland (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.
• Accenture - 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 January 1, 2001, the company was called Andersen Consulting.[9]
• 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”
• Adecco - named from the merger of Swiss staffing company Adia with French staffing company Ecco.[10]
• Adidas - from the name of the founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler.[11]
• Adobe Systems - from the Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of co-founder John Warnock.[12]
• Ahold - a holding company of Albert Heijn and other supermarkets. For its 100th anniversary in 1987, Ahold was granted the title of Koninklijke ("Royal" in Dutch) by the Monarchy of the Netherlands, changing its name to Koninklijke Ahold (Royal Ahold).[13]
• Akai - named for its founder, Masukichi Akai.[14]
• Akamai - from the Hawaiian word akamai meaning smart or clever;[15] the company defines it as "intelligent, clever and cool".[16]
• AKZO - named from the 1969 merger of Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU) and Koninklijke Zout Organon (KZO).[17]
• AKG Acoustics - from the company’s original name, Akustische und Kino-Geräte (Acoustic and Cinema Equipment)
• Alcatel-Lucent - Alcatel was named from Société Alsacienne de Constructions Atomiques, de Télécomunications et d'Electronique.[18] It took over Lucent Technologies in 2006.
• Alcoa - Aluminum Company of America.[19]
• Aldi - portmanteau for Albrecht (name of the founders) and discount
• Alstom - 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.
• ALZA - from the name of the founder Alex Zaffaroni.
• AmBev - American Beverage Company, the largest Brazilian beverage company and fourth in the world. In 2004 it merged with Interbrew to create Inbev
• AMC Theatres - American Multi-Cinema: the company pioneered multi-screen cinemas.[20]
• AMD - Advanced Micro Devices
• AMKOR - AMericanKORea [21]
• Amiga Corporation - The original developers of the 16-bit Amiga 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 Atari) alphabetically[22].
• Amoco - AMerican Oil COmpany - now part of BP
• Amstrad - Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc was founded by Sir Alan Michael Sugar in the UK. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading.
• AOL - from America Online. The company was founded in 1983 as Quantum Computer Services.
• Apache - 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."[23]
• Apple - For the favorite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs 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 IBM, DEC, Cincom and Tesseract
• Arby's - 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."
• Arcelor - created in 2001 by a merger of Arbed (Luxembourg), Aceralia (Spain) and Usinor (France) with the ambition of becoming a major player in the steel industry.
• AREVA - named from the region of Ávila in northern Spain, location of the Arevalo abbey. Arevalo was shorted to AREVA.
• Aricent - 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 & 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.[24]
• ARP - 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
• Asda - 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-Mart.
• ASICS - 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.
• Asus - named after Pegasus, 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.[25]
• AT&T - the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation officially changed its name to AT&T in the 1990s.
• Atari - named from the board game Go. "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.
• ATI - Array Technologies Incorporated
• ATS - 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.
• Audi - Latin translation of the German name "Horch". The founder August Horch 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&Q - from the initials of its founders, Richard Block and David Quayle
• Bang & Olufsen - 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.
• Banesto - from Banco Español de Crédito (Spanish Credit Bank)
• Bape - According to founder Nigo, the name "BAPE" is short for "A Bathing Ape In Lukewarm Water". Japanese people typically have daily baths in water at temperatures above 40 degrees celsius (104°F). As such, bathing in luke warm water is to complacently over indulge
• BASF - 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 workshop in 1919 by Gottlob Bauknecht, and now a Whirlpool brand.
• Bayer - named after Friedrich Bayer, who founded the company in 1863.
• BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation, originally British Broadcasting Company.
• BBVA - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
• BCC Research - from the company's former name, Business Communications Company.
• BEA Systems - from the first initial of each of the company's three founders: Bill Coleman, Ed Scott and Alfred Chuang.
• Ben & Jerry's - 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 Unilever.
• BenQ - Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life[26]
• BHP - Broken Hill Proprietary, named after the town of Broken Hill, where BHP was founded (now BHP Billiton)
• BIC Corporation - 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 & Decker - named after founders S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker.
• Blaupunkt - 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.
• BMW - Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Factories).
• Boeing - named after founder William E. Boeing. It was originally called Pacific Aero Products Co.
• Bosch - (full company name Robert Bosch GmbH) - named after founder Robert Bosch. A German diversified technology-based corporation.
• BSNL - from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (India Communications Corporation Limited).
• BP - 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.)
• BRAC - Bangladesh Rural & Advancement Committee, world's largest NGO (non governmental organization).
• Bridgestone - named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi (??) means "stone bridge", or "bridge of stone".
• Brine, Corp. - sporting goods company named after founder, W.H. Brine. It was taken over by New Balance in 2006.
• BT - formerly British Telecom (from BT Group, formerly British Telecommunications plc.)
• Bull - Compagnie des machines Bull was founded in Paris to exploit the patents for punched card machines taken out by Norwegian engineer Fredrik Rosing Bull.
• Burroughs Corporation - founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company and later renamed after the adding machine invented by William Seward Burroughs. The company took over Sperry Corporation and became Unisys.
• Bultaco - 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 Wang
• C&A - named after the brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, who founded a textile company called C&A in the Netherlands in 1841.
• CAE - originally Canadian Aviation Electronics
• Campagnolo - From its founder, Tullio Campagnolo.
• 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 bodhisattva of mercy.
• Caprabo - Catalan supermarkets, founded by Carbó, Prats and Bonet.
• Carrefour - chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets which started with a store near a crossroads (carrefour in French) in Annecy.
• Caterpillar - 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.
• Casio - from the name of its founder, Kashio Tadao, who had set up the company Kashio Seisakujo as a subcontractor factory.
• CBS - Columbia Broadcasting System
• CGI Group - from the first letters of Information Management Consultant in French (Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique).
• Chello - 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 as 'say'). This didn't catch on and now it is pronounced "cello" (as in the string instrument).
• Chrysler - named after the company founder, Walter P. Chrysler.
• Ciba Geigy - CIBA, named from Chemical Industry Basel (after Basel in Switzerland), merged with a company named after its founder Johann Rudolf Geigy-Merian. It became Novartis (below) after a merger with Sandoz.
• CiCi's Pizza - from the first letters of the last names of the founders of the franchise (Joe Croce and Mike Cole).
• Cigna - 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.[27]
• Cincom - 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).
• Cisco - short for San Francisco. It has also been suggested that it was "CIS-co": Computer Information Services was the department at Stanford University where the founders worked.
• Citroën - 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.
• Coca-Cola - derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' to make the name look better.
• Coleco - began as the Connecticut Leather Company.
• Compaq - 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 Portable.
• COMSAT - a contraction of communications satellites. This American digital telecommunications and satellite company was founded during the era of U.S. President John F. Kennedy era to develop the technology.
• ConocoPhillips - formed from the merger of Conoco (from Continental Oil Company) and the Phillips Petroleum Company.
• Copersucar - Brazilian production cooperative 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 Cowpland.[28]
• Cosworth - automotive engineering company named after company founders Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth.
• CPFL - Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz (São Paulo Company of Light and Power), one of the largest in Brazil, based in Campinas.
• Crabtree & Evelyn - toiletry company named after gardener John Evelyn, and the tree that bears Crabapples
• Cray - supercomputer company named after its founder, Seymour Cray.
• CRC Press - originally Chemical Rubber Company
• Cromemco - 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).
• Cutco - Cooking Utensils Company.[29]
• CVS - Convenience Value Service.
• D
• Daewoo - company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great House" or "Great Universe" in Korean.
• DAF Trucks - 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 kanji from "Osaka" (??, the kanji is here pronounced dai) and "engine" (???, 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 Tohatsu.)
• Datsun - 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 means "loss" in Japanese) again to DATSUN when they were acquired by Nissan.
• Debian - project founder Ian Murdock named it after himself and his girlfriend, Debra.
• DEC - Digital Equipment Corporation, a pioneering American minicomputer manufacturer founded by Ken Olsen 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.
• DEKA - named after its founder Dean Kamen, developer of the Segway, iBOT, HomeChoice Dialysis and other products.
• Delhaize - named after its founders, Jules Delhaize and his brothers, who originated from Charleroi (Belgium). They opened the first European self-service "supermarket" in Elsene, near Brussels.
• Dell - named after its founder, Michael Dell. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003.
• Denning & Fourcade, Inc. - interior designer company named after its founders Robert Denning and Vincent Fourcade in 1960.
• DHL - named after its founders, Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn.
• Digg, Inc.- 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-Key - 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.
• Dixons - 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.
• DKNY - Donna Karan New York.
• Dow - named after its founder, Herbert Henry Dow.
• Duane Reade - named after Duane and Reade Streets in lower Manhattan, where the chain's first warehouse was located.[30]
• Dynegy - 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 Games - 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.
• eBay - Pierre Omidyar, who had created the Auction Web trading website, had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. "Echo Bay" didn't refer to the town in Nevada, "It just sounded cool", Omidyar reportedly said. Echo Bay Mines Limited, 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.
• Edumed - Education in Medicine, reflecting its first area of activity, distance education in medicine
• EDS - Electronic Data Systems, founded in 1962 by former IBM salesman Ross Perot. According to the company history:[31] "He chose Electronic Data Systems from potential names he scribbled on a pledge envelope during a service at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas."
• Eidos - named from a Greek word meaning "species". The company became well-known for its Tomb Raider series of games.
• Eletropaulo - One of the largest Brazilian companies in electricity generation and distribution, its name derives from Companhia de Eletricidade de São Paulo.
• Embraer - Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, its name is an abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica (Brazilian Aeronautics Company).
• EMBRAPA - Brazilian state agricultural research and development company, its name is an abbreviation of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Brazilian Agriculture Research Company).
• EMBRATEL - 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 MCI, then later resold to Telmex.
• EMC Corporation - 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 = mc².
• EMI - formerly Electric and Musical Industries Ltd.
• Emporis - Empor comes from the German and means "aloft, rising". One of the world's largest providers of data concerning buildings.
• Equifax - Equitable and factual
• ESPN - Entertainment and Sports Programming Network
• ESRI - Environmental Systems Research Institute, the first geographic information system (GIS) software company founded by Jack and Laura Dangermond in Redlands, California, in 1969
• Epson - Epson Seiko Corporation, the Japanese printer and peripheral manufacturer, was named from "Son of Electronic Printer"
• Esso - the enunciation of the initials S.O. in Standard Oil of New Jersey.
• Exxon - 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 antitrust decision.
• F
• FÁS - abbreviation for Foras Áiseanna Saothair (Labour Facilities Foundation). Fás means grow in Irish.
• Fair Isaac Corporation - named after founders Bill Fair and Earl Isaac.
• Fazer - Finnish food company named after its founder, Karl Fazer.
• FCUK - French Connection United Kingdom.
• FedEx - abbreviation of Federal Express Corporation, the company's original name.[32]
• Fegime - abbreviation for "Fédération Européenne des Grossistes Indépendants" (European Federation of Independent Electrical Wholesalers).
• Ferrari - from the name of its founder, Enzo Ferrari.
• Fiat - acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin)
• Finnair - from "Finland" and "air". Originally called "Aero Osakeyhtiö", which led to its international flight code, "AY".
• Firestone - named after its founder, Harvey Firestone.
• Five Guys - 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.[33][34]
• Fluke - named after its founder, John Fluke, Sr.
• Forrester Research - from the family name of the mother of the founder George Forrester Colony.
• FranklinCovey - named after Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Covey. The company was formed from the 1997 merger of FranklinQuest and the Covey Leadership Center.
• Fuji - named after Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan.
• G
• Garmin - named after its founders, Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao.
• Gartner - named after its founder, Gideon Gartner, who left the firm in 1992 to start Giga (named from Gideon Gartner).
• Gatti's Pizza - Gatti was the maiden name of Pat Eure, wife of company founder Jim Eure.
• GCap Media - 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.
• Genentech - from Genetic Engineering Technology.
• GEICO - from Government Employees Insurance Company
• Glaxo - 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. GlaxoSmithKline was a 2000 merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.
• Glock GmbH - named after its founder, Gaston Glock.
• Goodyear - named after the founder of vulcanization, Charles Goodyear, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber company was founded by Frank Seiberling in 1898.
• Grey Global Group - an advertising and marketing agency supposed to have derived its name from the colour of the walls of its first office.
• Grundig - named after its founder, radio dealer-turned-manufacturer Max Grundig, in 1945.
• Gulfstream Aerospace - named after the Gulf Stream current that starts in the Gulf of Mexico and crosses the Atlantic. The company traces its origins to the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, which was sold and renamed in 1985.
• H
• Häagen-Dazs - Name was invented in 1961 by ice-cream makers Reuben and Rose Mattus of the Bronx "to convey an aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship".[35] The name has no meaning.
• Haier - Chinese ? "sea" and ? (a transliteration character; also means "you" in Literary Chinese).
• H&M - 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.
• Haribo - from the name of the founder and the German home town of the company: Hans Riegel, Bonn.
• Harman Kardon - named after its founders Dr. Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon.
• Hasbro - founded by Henry and Helal Hassenfeld, the Hassenfeld Brothers.
• HBOS - UK-based banking company formed by the merger of the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland.
• HCL - Hindustan Computers Ltd, Indian software company founded by Shiv Nadar.
• Hess Corporation - named after its founder Leon Hess.
• Hitachi - old place name, literally "sunrise"
• Hoechst - from the name of a district in Frankfurt.
• Honda - from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda.
• Honeywell - 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.
• Hospira - 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.
• Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia 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 "HTML" - the markup language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing. (If you click on Hotmail's 'mail' tab, you will still find "HoTMaiL" in the URL.)
• H&R Block - after the founders, brothers Henry W. and Richard Bloch (with "Bloch" changed to "Block" to avoid mispronunciation).
• HSBC - Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
• Hyundai - connotes the sense of "the present age" or "modernity" in Korean.
• I
• IBM - named by Tom (Thomas John) Watson Sr, an ex-employee of National Cash Register (NCR Corporation). To one-up them in all respects, he called his company International Business Machines.
• ICICI - Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India.
• ICL - abbreviation for International Computers Limited, once the UK's largest computer company but now a service arm of Fujitsu, of Japan.
• IG Farben - Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG was so named because the constituent German companies produced dyestuffs 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 B gas used in the gas chambers.
• Iiyama - manufacturer of monitors and TVs named after the Japanese city, Iiyama.
• IKEA - a composite of the first letters in the Swedish founder Ingvar Kamprad'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.
• InBev - the name was created after the merger of the Belgian company Interbrew with Brazilian Ambev
• Inditex - a Spanish group named from Industria de Diseño Textil (Textile Design Industry).
• Infineon Technologies - derived from Infinity and Aeon. The name was given to Siemens's Semiconductor branch (called Siemens HL or Siemens SC/SSC) when it was spun off.
• Ingenico - electronic payment device manufacturer based in Paris and named from the French Ingenieux Compagnie (Ingenious Company).
• Intel - 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 ELectronics). 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 Systems - an Indian company named from the famous philosophical dictum: "I think therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum).[36]
• Infosys - An Indian software major. "Information Systems"
• J
• J2TV - from television and film production company formed by Malcolm in the Middle actor "J"ustin Berfield and producer "J"ason Felts.
• JAL - from Japan Airlines
• Jat Airways - 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.
• JBL - from James B Lansing, an electronics designer
• Johnson & Johnson - 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.
• JVC - Japan Victor Company
• K
• Kalev - after Kalev, the character from Estonian mythology and national epic Kalevipoeg.
• Kawasaki - from the name of its founder, Shozo Kawasaki
• KFC - 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. Recent commercials have tried to imply that the abbreviation stands for "Kitchen Fresh Chicken".
• Kenwood Limited - named after Kenneth (Ken) Wood, who founded this kitchenware company as Woodlau Industries in the UK in 1947. It is not related to Kenwood Electronics, which started as Kasuga Radio Co in Japan in 1946 and became Trio Corporation in 1960.
• Kenworth Truck Company - Kenworth Truck Company was formed in 1923 and is named after the two principal stockholders Harry Kent and Edgar Worthington.
• Kia Motors - the name "Kia" (??) roughly translates as "Rising from Asia" in Hanja.
• Kinko's - from the college nickname of founder, Paul Orfalea. He was called Kinko because he had curly red hair. The company was bought by FedEx for $2.4 billion in 2004.
• Kodak - Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman. 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.
• Konica - 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.
• Korg - named from the surnames of the founders, Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai, combined with the letters "rg" from the word organ.
• KPMG - from the last names of the founders of the firms which combined to form the cooperative: Piet Klijnveld, William Barclay Peat, James Marwick, and Reinhard Goerdeler.[37]
• Kroger - American supermarket chain named after its founder, Barney Kroger
• KUKA - Company founded in 1898 in Augsburg, Germany as Keller Und Knappich Augsburg, short KUKA. Today a manufacturer of industrial robots and automation systems and registrated trademark for industrial robots.
• Kyocera - from Kyoto Ceramics, after Kyoto in Japan.
• L
• Lada - from the name of a Slavic goddess, and used as a trading name by Russian automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ (??? in Russian). VAZ is derived from Volzhsky Automobilny Zavod.
• Lancôme - began in 1935, when its founder, Armand Petitjean, was exploring the ruins of a castle, Le Chateau de Lancôme (Loir-et-Cher) 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.
• LCL - from Le Crédit Lyonnais. The name change occurred after the bank was involved in a major financial scandal where evidence disappeared in a mysterious fire.
• Lego - combination of the Danish "leg godt", which means to "play well".[38] Lego also means "I put together" in Latin, but Lego Group 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 Group - a portmanteau of "Le-" (from former name Legend) and "novo", pseudo-Latin for "new". This Chinese company took over IBM's PC division.
• Level 3 Communications - "Level 3" is a reference to the network layer of the OSI model.
• LG - 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)
• Lionbridge - 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 Studios - games studio named after Mark Webley's pet hamster, which died a week before the company was founded.[39] Webley worked for Bullfrog, and co-founded Lionhead with Peter Molyneux, Tim Rance and Steve Jackson in July 1997. Microsoft bought the company in April 2006.
• Lockheed Martin - Aerospace manufacturer, a combination of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, which is a combination of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation.
• LoJack - "LoJack" (the stolen-vehicle recovery system) is a pun on the word "hijack" (to steal a vehicle).
• Longines - 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 belt, a boxing trophy donated by the English Lord Lonsdale.
• L'Oréal - In 1907, Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, developed an innovative hair-color formula. He called his improved hair dye Auréole.
• LOT - LOT Polish Airlines. "Lot" in Polish means "flight".
• Lotus Software - Mitch Kapor named his company after the Lotus Position or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation technique as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
• Lucent Technologies - 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.[40] It was taken over by Alcatel to form Alcatel-Lucent in 2006.
• Lycos - from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiders.[41]
• M
• Maggi - food company named after its founder, Julius Maggi. It was taken over by Nestlé in 1947 and survives as a brand name.
• MAN - abbreviation for Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Company). The MAN company is a German engineering works and truck manufacturer.
• Mandriva - new company formed from the merger of Mandrake Linux and Connectiva Linux
• Manhattan Associates - named from Manhattan Beach, California, where the company was founded, before it moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
• Manugistics— Manufacturing + Logistics, a supplier of supply chain optimization software.
• Mars - 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 Ltd (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 AG - Named for founder Wilhelm Mast and its main product, Jägermeister (German for "hunt master") liqueur.
• Mattel - 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 Corporation - 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 Mazda, 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.
• MBNA - 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's - from the name of the brothers Dick McDonald and Mac McDonald, who founded the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940.
• MCI Communications - 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.
• Mercedes - from the first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who distributed cars of the early Daimler company around 1900.
• Merillat Industries - named after Orville D. Merillat, who founded the company in 1946.
• Metro-Goldwyn-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 Goldfish, and Edgar 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'."[42]
• Microlins - from Microcomputers and Lins, a Brazilian city where the company was founded by José Carlos Semenzato
• Micron Technology - computer memory producer named after the microscopic parts of its products. It is now better known by its consumer brand name: Crucial.
• Microsoft - 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."[citation needed]
• Midway Games - derived from the name of an airport on the southwestern part of Chicago.
• Mincom Limited - 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.
• Minolta - Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shoten (???; literally: Japan-Germany camera shop). It was not until 1934 that the name Minolta first appeared on a camera, the Minolta Vest.
• MIPRO - stands for MIcrophone PROfessionals. MIPRO is a manufactuer of wireless microphones.
• MIPS - 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.)
• Mitel - from Mike and Terry's Lawnmowers, after the founders Michael Cowpland (see also: Corel) and Terry Matthews, and the company's original business plan.
• MITRE - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Establishment (however The MITRE Corporation asserts that its name is not an acronym)
• Mitsubishi - the name Mitsubishi (??) 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.)
• Morningstar, Inc. - The name Morningstar is taken from the last sentence in Walden, a book by Henry David Thoreau; "the sun is but a morning star"
• Motorola - 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" phonograph made by the Victor Talking Machine Company. 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 Foundation - from the name of the web browser that preceded Netscape Navigator. When Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace the Mosaic browser, it was internally named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, Godzilla) by Jamie Zawinski.[43]
• MVC - from Music and Video Club, the name of a UK-based entertainment chain.
• Mustek - Taiwanese electronics manufacturer with name derived from Most Unique Scanner Technology.
• MRF - 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.
• N
• Nabisco - formerly The National Biscuit Company, changed in 1971 to Nabisco.
• NCR Corporation - from National Cash Register.
• NEC - from Nippon Electric Company.
• Nero - Nero Burning ROM named after Nero burning Rome ("Rom" is the German spelling of "Rome").
• Nestlé - named after its founder, Henri Nestlé, who was born in Germany under the name "Nestle", which is German (actually, Swabian diminutive) for "bird's nest". The company logo is a bird's nest with a mother bird and two chicks.
• Netscape - 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 Illinois threatened to sue for trademark infringement over the use of the Mosaic name. Netscape is the combination of network and landscape.[citation needed]
• Nike - named for the Greek goddess of victory.
• Nikon - the original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning "Japanese Optical".
• Nintendo - Nintendo is the transliteration of the company's Japanese name, nintendou (???). The first two (nin-ten) can be translated to "entrusted to heaven"; dou is a common ending meaning "hall" or "store".
• Nissan - the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means "Japan Industries".
• Nortel Networks - 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.
• Novartis - after the Latin expression "novae artes" which means something like "new skills".
• Novell - 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
• OCZ - play on the word Overclockers.[44]
• Oracle - Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Miner were working on a consulting project for the CIA. The code name for the project was Oracle. 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.
• Osram - from osmium and wolfram.
• P
• Paccar - from Pacific Car and Rail.
• PCCW - originally Pacific Century Development, the company's English name was changed from Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited to PCCW Limited on August 9, 2002. It owns Hong Kong Telecom.
• Pemex - state-owned Mexican oil/gasoline company named from Petróleos Mexicanos.
• Pennzoil - formed by a merger of South Penn Oil (Penn), a former Standard Oil subsidiary, and Zapata Oil (zoil).
• Pepsi - named from the digestive enzyme pepsin.
• Petrobras - Brazilian oil company named from Petróleo and Brasil.
• Pixar - 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-Sierra - 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.
• Porsche - car company named after Ferry Porsche, son of the founder Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian automotive engineer. The family name may have originated in the Czech name "Boreš" (boresh).
• Prada - an Italian high fashion house named after the founder Mario Prada, who founded Prada in Milan 1914.
• ProfSat - Brazilian satellite-based education company, meaning Professional Sateliite.
• PRS Guitars - named after its founder, Paul Reed Smith.
• 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 Limited.
• Qantas - from its original name, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.
• Qimonda - 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".
• Quad - an acronym for Quality Unit Amplified Domestic. Quad Electroacoustics was founded in 1936 by Peter Walker, and was formerly called the Acoustical Manufacturing Company.
• Quark - named after an atomic particle. The word quark originates from Finnegans Wake by James Joyce.
• Qualcomm - Quality Communication
• QVC - Quality, Value and Convenience
• R
• Rabobank - Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank, a combination of the two cooperatives that merged to form the company.
• RAND - Research ANd Development.
• Raytheon - "Light of the gods". Maker of missiles such as Patriot, Maverick, Sidewinder and Tomahawk, among other military technology.
• RCA - Radio Corporation of America.
• Red Hat - while at college, company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse 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.
• Reebok - alternate spelling of rhebok (Pelea capreolus), an African antelope.
• REO Motor Car Company - car manufacturer founded in 1904 by Ransom E. Olds, and named from its founder's initials. Later, the rock band REO Speedwagon took its name from one of its trucks, the REO Speed Wagon.
• Research In Motion - from the phrase "poetry in motion", which company founder Mike Lazaridis had seen used to describe a football player.
• Rickenbacker - named after co-founder Adolph Rickenbacher, with the spelling anglicised. The company started as the Electro String Instrument Corporation in 1931.
• Robeez - baby-shoe company named after the founder's son Robbie (Robert).[45] Robeez was taken over by Stride Rite in 2006.
• Rolls-Royce - name used by Rolls-Royce plc and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, 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 Security - formed from the first letters of the family names of its founders Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len Adleman.
• S
• SAAB - founded in 1937 in Sweden as Svenska Aeroplan aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Company); the last word is typically abbreviated as AB, hence SAAB.
• Sabre - Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment.
• Saku Brewery - after the village in Saku Parish, Estonia, where the company was founded.
• Samsonite - named from the Biblical character Samson, renowned for his strength.
• Sanyo - meaning three oceans in Japanese.
• SAP - 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).
• SAS - Scandinavian Airlines System, the flag airline carrier of Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
• SAS Institute - originally an abbreviation for Statistical Analysis System.
• Sasol - Suid-Afrikaanse Steenkool en Olie (Afrikaans for South African Coal and Oil).
• SCB - 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.
• SCO - from Santa Cruz Operation. The company's office was in Santa Cruz, California. It eventually formed Tarantella, Inc. and sold off its operating system division to Caldera Systems (a spin off from Novell), which is based in Utah. Caldera changed its name to The SCO Group (at which point SCO no longer stood for anything).
• Saudi Aramco - 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.[46]
• SEAT - an acronym from Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Corporation of Touring Cars).
• Sealed Air - from the "sealed air" found in its most notable product, Bubble Wrap.
• Sega - Service Games of Japan was founded by Marty Bromley (an American) to import pinball games to Japan for use on American military bases.
• Seiko - Seiko, now referred to in katakana as ???("seiko"), was originally named in kanji as ??(also "seiko"). The two characters were taken from the phrase ???, the company's vision which roughly translates to "a factory(??:kojyo)that successfully(??:seiko)produces(??:seisan)exquisit(??:seiko)and precise(??: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 ??), as well as a word for "success" (spelled ??).
• Sennheiser - named after one of its founders, Fritz Sennheiser.
• setcom - software engineering and testing for communications, an international group of companies active in the field of wireless test solutions.
• SGI - Silicon Graphics Inc.
• Sharp - Japanese consumer electronics company named from its first product, an ever-sharp pencil.
• Siemens - founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske. The company was originally called Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske.
• Six Apart - company co-founders Ben and Mena Trott were born six days apart (in September 1977).
• SKF - from Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB, a Swedish manufacturer founded in 1907. See also Volvo.
• Škoda Auto - the car company was founded in 1895 and originally named Laurin & Klement after its founders, Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement. It was taken over by Škoda Works, an industrial conglomerate, in 1924, and adopted the Škoda name from Emil Škoda. Škoda Auto was split off after World War II and is now part of Volkswagen.
• Skype - the original concept for the name was Sky-Peer-to-Peer, which morphed into Skyper, then Skype.[47]
• Smart - Swatch + Mercedes + Art
• 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 Radio.
• Smeg - acronym based on the Italian towns where the original enamelling factory was located in Guastalla, Italy.
• SNK - Shin Nihon Kikaku, Japanese for Plans for a New Japan.
• Sony - 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.
• Sorcim - "Micros" backwards. Sorcim was the original publisher of the SuperCalc spreadsheet in 1980. It was taken over by Computer Associates.
• SPAR - 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".
• Sperry - company founded by Elmer Ambrose Sperry (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.
• Spiratone - from the last name of founders Fred Spira 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 Spira is Royaltone) at the time of the company's founding in the 1940s.
• Sprint - 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 - From its founders Scott King, Stanley Ray Day, and Sam Patterson.
• SRI International - from Stanford Research Institute, established by the trustees of Stanford University, California
• Stellent - coined from a combination of the words stellar and excellent.
• STX - pronounced as the word "sticks" because, when first founded, STX manufactured only lacrosse sticks
• Subaru - from the Japanese name for the constellation known to Westerners as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Subaru was formed from a merger of seven other companies, and the constellation is featured on the company's logo.
• Sun Microsystems - its founders designed their first workstation in their dorm at Stanford University, and chose the name Stanford University Network for their product, hoping to sell it to the college. They didn't.
• SuSE - from Software und System-Entwicklung (software and system development). The company was bought by Novell for its Linux distribution.
• Suzuki - from the name of its founder, Michio Suzuki.
• T
• Taco Bell - named after founder Glen Bell.
• Talgo - from "Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea-Oriol" (Spanish for "Goicoechea-Oriol Light Articulated Train"), Goicoechea and Oriol being the founders of the company.
• TAM Airlines - Brazilian airline company named from Transportes Aéreos Marília (Marilia's Air Transport). Marília is a city in São Paulo state, Brazil.
• TAP Portugal - from "Transportes Aéreos Portugueses" (Portuguese Air Transport).
• Tata Group - conglomerate named after Jamsetji Tata, considered "the father of Indian industry".
• Taxan - 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.
• TCL - from Today China Lion. Derived from literal translation of "???" from Chinese to English.
• TCS - from Tata Consultancy Services, from India's Tata Group, named after founder and legendary industrialist Jamsetji Tata.
• TDK Corporation - from Tokyo Denki Kagaku (Tokyo Electronics and Chemicals).
• Tesco - 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.
• Texaco - from The Texas Company U.S.A.[48]
• THX - from Tomlinson Holman Crossover, the name of the technology's inventor and the audio technology of a crossover amplifier. It may be a backronym, as the technology is owned by George Lucas's company, and he directed THX 1138.
• TIBCO Software - The Information Bus Company. The company was founded by Vivek Ranadive as Teknekron Software Systems in 1985.
• Tim Horton's - Canadian fast food doughnut, sandwich and coffee shop named after founder and hockey player Tim Horton. In Canada Tim Horton's is nicknamed "Tim's" and "Timmy's".
• TNT N.V. - Thomas Nationwide Transport, an Australian company which was acquired by the Dutch postal company in 1996; the postal company renamed itself TNT in 2005.
• Toshiba - 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 katakana 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
• Tucows - (http://www.tucows.com/) an acronym for The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software.[49]
• TVR - derived from the first name of the company founder TreVoR Wilkinson
• U
• Umbro - Umbro was founded in 1924 by the Humphrey (Umphrey) Brothers, Harold C. and Wallace.
• UNIMED - Brazilian cooperative of physicians, meaning União de Medicos (Physicians' Union)
• Unisys - 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 Corporation - the Union Oil Company of California, founded in 1890
• UUNET - one of the industry's oldest and largest Internet Service Providers, named from UNIX-to-UNIX Network.
• V
• Varig - Largest international Brazilian airline, its name is an abbreviation of Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense, because it was founded in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
• Verizon - a portmanteau of veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon.
• Virgin - founder Richard Branson 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.'"
• Vodafone - from Voice, Data, Telefone. Vodafone made the UK's first mobile call at a few minutes past midnight on 1 January 1985.
• Volkswagen - from the German for people's car. Ferdinand Porsche 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.
• Volvo - from the Latin word volvo, which means "I roll". It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF.
• W
• Wachovia - 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.
• Waitrose - upmarket UK supermarket chain originally named after the founders, Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. The Taylor was later dropped.
• Wal-Mart - named after founder Sam Walton
• Wang Laboratories - from the name of the founder, An Wang, the inventor of core memory.
• Wendy's - Wendy was the nickname of founder Dave Thomas' daughter Melinda.
• Weta Digital - special effects company co-founded by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. 'Weta' are a group of about 70 species of insect found in New Zealand, where Weta Digital is based.
• W H Smith - 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-Sonoma - founded by Chuck Williams in Sonoma, California.
• Wipro - from Western India Vegetable Products Limited. The company started as a modest Vanaspati and laundry soap producer and is now also an IT services giant.
• WWE - World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It changed its name after a court case brought by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is now called the World Wide Fund for Nature.
• Worlds of Wonder - founder Don Kingsborough wanted an eyecatching stock symbol, and Worlds Of Wonder provided WOW. The company went bankrupt in 1988.
• WPP - Global advertising and marketing company. Originally called Wire and Plastic Products.
• X
• Xerox - 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.[50]
• Y
• YKK - 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.
• Yakult - 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".
• Yoplait - from the merger of Yola and Coplait in 1965.[52]
• Z
• Zend Technologies - a contraction derived from the names of Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans, the two founders.
• 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 AG. The name is now supposedly echoed by SuSE (Software und System-Entwicklung: "Software and system development")..
• See also
• List of companies named after people
• List of oldest companies
• Lists of etymologies
• References
• ^ UCLA Film & Television Archive - Collections - Twentieth Century-Fox
• ^ Google-Launches DNA Test!, January 23, 2008, date accessed April 27, 2008
• ^ 37signals >> 33 > What's in a Name?
• ^ 3Com | Investor Information | Investor FAQs
• ^ History
• ^ 7-Eleven: About - History
• ^ Archival Collection
• ^ http://www.rootbeer.com/textonly/roots.html
• ^ The Long View: Putting An Accent On the Future
• ^ Company History - Adecco - the world leader in human resource solutions
• ^ History
• ^ http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/fastfacts.pdf
• ^ Royal Ahold - AHO Annual and Transition Report (foreign private issuer) (20-F) Item 1. Description of Business
• ^ Synthmuseum.com - Akai
• ^ Hawaiian Dictionaries
• ^ August 11, 1999 - "Akamaize" Adopted into Technology Lexicon
• ^ History
• ^ Alcatel History
• ^ Alcoa: About Alcoa: Trademark History
• ^ AMC Theatres
• ^ Amkor Technology
• ^ DeMaria and Wilson (2003) ""High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games" p.109 ISBN 0-072-23172-6
• ^ Apache HTTP Server Project
• ^ Steve Ettlinger,. Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats. Hudson Street Press. ISBN 1-59463-018-6.
• ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/16/computing-asus
• ^ BenQ Corporation | Introduction: International Directory of Company Histories
• ^ CIGNA Company History
• ^ Cowpland/Corel (Profile)
• ^ "Cutco Cutlery: History". Cutco. 2007. http://www.cutco.com/company/history.jsp. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
• ^ Mount, Ian (2005-05-29). "The Mystery of Duane Reade". New York. http://nymag.com/nymetro/shopping/features/11908/. Retrieved 2009-02-05. "Founded in 1960 by the brothers Abraham, Eli, and Jack Cohen, Duane Reade started as a three-store health-and-beauty chain that took the name of the two streets that bounded its lower-Broadway warehouse."
• ^ Timeline | eds.com
• ^ FedEx Historical Timeline
• ^ "Number 1 with a Burger" (PDF). Restaurant Business. August 2006. http://www.fiveguys.com/Images/Restaurant%20Biz%20Magazine%20August%202006.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
• ^ Häagen-Dazs | Company | History
• ^ Ittiam l About Us l Identity
• ^ http://www.kpmg.co.uk/about/history/index.cfm
• ^ "Lego.com About Us - Lego Company - The Lego Group". Lego Group. 2007. http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=group. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
• ^ GameSpy.com - Article: Developer Origins
• ^ Landor: Thinking: Articles: Lucent
• ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB917570752974377500.html?mod=googlewsj
• ^ Telegraph.co.uk: As Longbridge stands empty, the MG Rover jigsaw takes shape 6,000 miles away. Issued 2006/06/18; retrieved 2006/07/01.
• ^ Jamie Zawinski (August 5, 1994). "the netscape dorm.". jwzrants. http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/nscpdorm.html. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
• ^ What You Didn't Know About Ryan Petersen - Tom's Hardware
• ^ "Robeez Footwear: Better By Design" (PDF). http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/mfbs-gprea.nsf/vwapj/RobeezFootwear_Eng.pdf/$FILE/RobeezFootwear_Eng.pdf.
• ^ http://www.saudiaramco.com
• ^ Skype Forums > The name ''Skype''
• ^ Texaco Brand Portal
• ^ The History of Xerox
• ^ A Bit of History

Think Books
Origin of Everyday Things

Synopsis
Whether you're a history buff, science student, lover of popular culture or a natural born detective, "The Origin of Everyday Things" is the ultimate guide to help curious minds unravel and unwind. A delicious compendium of trivia behind the origins of over 300 modern phenomena, objects, sayings stories and superstitions that most people take for granted, it's also a great way to enhance your powers of observation, hone your forensic antenna and last but least, impress your friends. Guaranteed to absorb, amuse and delight, and complete with humorous illustrations and easy-to-navigate chapters, eye-opening explanations and amazing anecdotes include: "the birth and brilliance of the brown paper bag"; "the 4,000-year history of toothpaste - and its torrid past"; "the staying power behind the world's most popular puzzles from Rubik's Cube to Sudoku to the humble crossword"; "why we have nature to thank for Velcro, Valium and the Guggenheim"; "why on Earth we throw shoes at a newly-wed bride!" "Why Heinz has the Romans to thank for its saucy success; and why we get the blues and not the reds."