How Big Tech Companies Got Their Names

The video delves into the origins of how the biggest tech names were chosen, focusing on Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, with a short note on Gateway for context. It explains that Apple got its name from Steve Jobs’s time at a fruitarian phase and a preference for a simple, approachable word that would appear early in phone books in 1976. Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos originally considered Kadabra, but a mishearing and a choice that conveyed vastness led to the Amazon name, echoing the river’s sheer scale and a broad product catalog. Google’s name is tied to the mathematical term googol, reflecting a vast amount of information and the ambition to enable access to huge stores of data, with tweaks to the spelling along the way. Facebook originated as a Harvard directory concept, a digitized evolution of the traditional campus “face book,” aimed at helping students connect, driven by Zuckerberg’s frustration with the campus administration’s online options. The segment also briefly notes Microsoft’s name coming from microcomputer and software roots, and mentions Gateway’s cow-themed branding as a means to present reliability and approachability. Throughout, the host ties each company’s naming logic to brand positioning and anticipated user experience, showing how naming choices supported initial business messaging and market perception. The video also teases a future episode and plugs sponsor FreshBooks as a practical side note about tools that help creators and small teams manage finances.

Topics · technology · branding · history · business