How Products Were Named

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2007-10-21T08:32:00.001-04:00

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Welcome to 'How Products Were Named'

2007-08-06T10:28:00.000-04:00

Welcome and thanks for visiting! This blog will show you how everyday products that you use and have grown to love were named--from "Nike" to "McDonalds" to "Dial Soap." Every day or so we will add a few new products for you to read about and then go on to amaze your friends (or win bar bets or game shows). You can see previous product names in the archives on the right hand side of this page.

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How Was "Popeye's Chicken" Named?

2006-10-19T11:52:00.000-04:00

Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, usually called just "Popeyes," is a chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that is controlled by Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises.

Popeyes first opened in Arabi, Louisiana, a suburb outside New Orleans in 1972 as "Chicken on the Run," a chicken restaurant owned by Al Copeland. The name was changed shortly afterwards, after the fictional detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in the movie The French Connection (in turn based on a real detective Eddie Egan, whose nickname did not derive from the cartoon character). The chain would later license the namesake cartoon characters for use as a promotional tool, which added to the confusion as to the source. Recently, however, Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits has omitted the use of "Popeye the Sailor" in promotions; one reason given was the inability to market their food effectively with a sailor character. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Walgreens" Named?

2006-10-15T16:23:00.000-04:00

Walgreens (The official corporate name lacks an apostrophe) is a convenience store/pharmacy chain, pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), mail service pharmacy, and specialty pharmacy which operates in the continental United States and Puerto Rico. It operates more than 5,405 retail stores. Walgreens was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901 and has since expanded throughout the United States. Its headquarters is located in Deerfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. CVS/pharmacy, Eckerd, and Rite Aid are its main competitors.

This chain started out as a drug store with owner, Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.. The Walgreen family was absent from the senior management of the company for a short period following the retirement of Charles Walgreen III, however the great-grandson of Charles Walgreen, Kevin P. Walgreen, was made a vice-president in 1995 and was promoted to Senior Vice-President of Operations - Southern Division in 2006.

How Was "The CW Television Network" Named?

2006-10-15T10:21:00.000-04:00

The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched during the 2006-07 television season. It features a mixture of programming from both UPN and The WB television networks, which ceased independent operations on September 15 and September 17, 2006 respectively. The network, which targets young adults, is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, owner of UPN, and Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of Time Warner, majority owner of The WB (thus combining the first initial of each company into the "CW" moniker). (Wikipedia)

How Was The "Allen Wrench" Named?

2006-10-10T14:47:00.000-04:00

An Allen wrench, Allen key, hex key or hex head wrench is a tool used to drive Allen screws and bolts, which have a hexagonal socket in the head. "Allen wrench" was originally a trademark of Allen Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut in 1943. In non-English speaking parts of Europe, it is usually known as an "Unbrako key" (also often misspelled as "Umbrako"), which is a brand name established in 1911. The brand is owned by SPS Technologies. In Germany and Netherlands, this type of screw is known under the name Inbus™, named after the company that invented them in 1936, Bauer & Schaurte Karcher in Neuss (Innensechskantschraube Bauer und Schaurte). (It is still known as Inbus-key - or often misspelled as Imbus-key - in parts of Europe.) In Italy it is known as brugola, after Egidio Brugola, who invented it in 1926. (Wikipedia)

How Was "YouTube" Named?

2006-10-10T08:49:00.000-04:00

YouTube is a popular free video sharing web site which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. Founded in February 2005 by three employees of PayPal, the San Mateo-based service utilizes Adobe Flash technology to display video. The wide variety of site content includes movie and TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content such as videoblogging. It is staffed by 67 employees.

YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were all early employees of PayPal. Prior to PayPal, Hurley studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The domain name "YouTube.com" was activated on February 15, 2005, and the website was developed over the following months. The creators offered the public a preview of the site in May 2005, and six months later, YouTube made its official debut.

The company's humble beginnings in a garage and commitment to offering free services necessitated outside financial backing. In November of 2005, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital invested an initial $3.5 million; additionally, Roelof Botha, partner of the firm and former CFO of PayPal, joined the YouTube board of directors. In April 2006, Sequoia put an additional $8 million into the company, which had experienced a boom of popularity and growth in just its first few months.

How Was "The Elks Club" Named?

2006-10-02T21:16:00.000-04:00

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (or "Elks Club") had modest beginnings in 1868 as a drinking club (then called the "Jolly Corks") established as a private club to elude New York City laws governing the opening hours of public taverns.

Early members were members of theatrical performing troupes in New York City. It has since evolved into a major American fraternal, charitable, and service order with over a million members, both men and women, throughout the United States and Canada. Current members are required to be over the age of 21 and believe in God.

How Was "Volkswagen" Named?

2006-10-02T21:05:00.000-04:00

Volkswagen, or VW, is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany. It forms the core of Volkswagen Group, one of the world's four largest car producers.

The name means "people's car" in German. Its German tagline is "Aus Liebe zum Automobil", which is translated as "For the love of the car" - or, "For Love of the People's Cars," as translated by VW in other languages.

Though the origins of the company date back to the 1930s, the design for the car that would become known as the Beetle date back even further, as a pet project by car designer Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951). Adolf Hitler's desire that almost anybody should be able to afford a car coincided with this design.

How Was "Moxie" Named?

2006-09-28T09:48:00.001-04:00

Moxie, a carbonated beverage, is considered to be the USA's first mass produced soft drink.

Created in 1876 by Dr. Augustin Thompson of Union, Maine, Moxie was first marketed as a patent medicine in Lowell, Massachusetts under thttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.bold.gifhe product name “Moxie Nerve Food”. Moxie was said to cure ailments ranging from softening of the brain to “loss of manhood.” In 1884, it was sold in carbonated formand merchandised as an invigorating drink, which claimed to endow the drinker with "spunk." In the early phase of its life as a recreational soft drink, Moxie is said to have been kept handy by bartenders to give to customers who were too drunk to be given any more alcohol.

The name entered the American language, when a person was said to be "full of Moxie", meaning that the person was skillful, or spirited. In this popular meaning, the word is sometimes spelled moxy. Moxie became unique in that it was the name of a commercially produced soft drink, also included in dictionaries.

How Was "3 Musketeers" Named?

2006-09-27T20:41:00.000-04:00

3 Musketeers is a candy bar made in the U.S. by Mars, Incorporated. It is filled with a fluffy chocolate nougat in the middle.

When introduced in 1932, 3 Musketeers had three pieces of candy in one package, flavored vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, hence the name.

In the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, the three musketeers, Aramis, Porthos, and Athos, were joined by the dashing d'Artagnan. In commercials for the candy bar featuring the characters, there are only three musketeers depicted, but d'Artagnan replaces Aramis.

How Was "TWiT" Named?

2006-09-24T17:25:00.000-04:00

This Week in Tech—officially stylized as this WEEK in TECH, casually referred to as TWiT, and formerly known as Revenge of the Screen Savers — is the flagship podcast of the TWiT.tv network. A weekly podcast and videocast that features roundtable discussions and debates surrounding the latest technology news, it features several former hosts and cast members of the TechTV television program The Screen Savers, and is regularly hosted by Leo Laporte. Panelists include Patrick Norton, John C. Dvorak, Robert Heron, David Prager, Roger Chang, Doug Kaye, Kevin Rose, Wil Harris, Molly Wood, and other technology pundits.

This Week in Tech has been ranked #1 on Podcast Alley, Yahoo Podcasts, and the iTunes Podcast Directory, where it records around 315,000 downloads a week. It has also won two Podcast Awards: "Best Technology Podcast" and "People's Choice." TWiT is part of a surge of online technology-related programming from former TechTV employees. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Snickers" Named?

2006-09-24T17:12:00.000-04:00

Snickers is a candy bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It is made from nougat topped with peanuts and caramel covered with milk chocolate. Snickers is the best selling candy bar of all time and has annual global sales of $2 billion.

In 1930, the Mars family introduced its second brand, Snickers, named after one of their favorite horses. They were first sold for a nickel. It is made by forming a nougat center into large slabs, which are cut to size once the caramel and peanuts have been added. After the centers are formed, they are coated with thick milk chocolate. The completed bars are inspected, wrapped, and packed in cases for shipment. From 1949 to 1952, Snickers was a sponsor of "The Howdy Doody Show". The "Fun Size" bar was introduced in 1968 and has been a popular Halloween treat ever since. The following decades saw even more Snickers varieties introduced. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Phillips 66" Named?

2006-09-22T16:46:00.000-04:00

Phillips 66 is a brand of gasoline and service station in the U.S. It is part of ConocoPhillips.

The company that made Phillips 66 gasoline began in 1917 as Phillips Petroleum Company. In 1927, the company's gasoline was being tested on U.S. Highway 66 in Oklahoma, and when it turned out that the car was going 66 mph, the company decided to name the new fuel Phillips 66.

How Was "Grauman's Chinese Theatre" Named?

2006-09-22T12:56:00.000-04:00

Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a world famous movie theater located on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Built in 1927 by a partnership headed by Sid Grauman, the Chinese was intended to be the world's greatest theatre. It has since become one of Southern California's most recognizable and visited landmarks and is steeped in Hollywood history, having been home to numerous premiers and two Academy Awards ceremonies. Among the theatre's most famous traits are the autographed cement blocks that reside in the forecourt, which bear the signatures and markings of many of Hollywood's most revered stars and starlets.

From 1973 through 2001, the theatre was labelled the Mann's Chinese Theater, owing to the theatre's purchase by the Mann Corporation in 1973. In the wake of Mann's bankruptcy, the theatre was sold in 2000 to a partnership comprised of Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, who in 2002 re-named the theatre Grauman's Chinese.

How Was "Lipton Tea" Named?

2006-09-21T16:11:00.000-04:00

Lipton is the world's biggest tea brand, selling both hot and iced tea around the world. It started as a British tea company, and was founded by Sir Thomas Lipton. The brand name is now owned by Unilever. The company owns several of its own tea plantations — in Kenya, Tanzania and India — as well as buying on the world tea markets.

Lipton Tea represents around 10% of the world market for tea (Euromonitor World Market for Hot Drinks 2004), and forms part of the Unilever Portfolio which sells around 20% of the world's tea, under brands such as PG Tips and Beseda. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Rolex" Named?

2006-09-20T10:51:00.000-04:00

Rolex is a brand of Swiss wristwatches and accessories renowned for their quality and exclusivity, as well as their cost (from a few thousand to more than one hundred thousand U.S. dollars). The watches have become status symbols of the rich and famous — as well as the upwardly-mobile career-minded individual.

The Rolex SA company was founded in 1905 by the German Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law, Alfred Davis. Contrary to popular belief, Hans Wilsdorf was neither Swiss, nor a watchmaker. Wilsdorf & Davis was the original name of what later became the Rolex Watch Company. They originally imported Hermann Aegler's Swiss movements to England and placed them in quality cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were then sold to jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from the firm of Wilsdorf and Davis are usually marked "W&D" – inside the caseback only.

Hans Wilsdorf registered the trademark name "Rolex" in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland during 1908. The word was made up, but its origin is obscure. One story, which was never confirmed by Wilsdorf, is that the word "Rolex" came from the French phrase horlogerie exquise, meaning exquisite watch industry. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Bangkok, Thailand" Named?

2006-09-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

Bangkok, known in Thai as Krung Thep, is the capital and largest city of Thailand, with an official 2000 census population of 6,355,144. Bangkok is located on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, near the Gulf of Thailand.

Bangkok is a fast growing, economically and culturally dynamic city in Southeast Asia. The World Meteorological Organization has dubbed Bangkok the world's hottest large city. Moreover, it is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.(Wikipedia)

It is noteworthy that the name "Bangkok" formerly referred to a small fishing village which later expanded into communities on both sides of the Chao Phraya River. It is so named because the village (called bang in Thai) was full of wild olive (called makok in Thai which was shortened to kok) groves, and the name has been internationally used up to now.(thaiwaysmagazine.com)

How Was "Elmer's Glue" Named?

2006-09-19T12:38:00.000-04:00

Elmer's Products, Inc, is the manufacturer of Elmer's Glue-All and other crafts and home repair products, including Krazy Glue, Ross Glue, ProBond adhesives, and X-Acto craft knives.

Elmer's Glue-All was first marketed in 1947 by Borden Milk Products' chemical division under the name "Cascorez Glue". Shortly after, the brand was renamed after Elmer the Bull, husband of Borden's advertising mascot Elsie the Cow. Elmer's image continues to be featured in the company logo. (Wikipedia)

How was "Elmo T.M.X" Named?

2006-09-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

The much-anticipated top-secret 10th-anniversary Elmo, code-named "T.M.X. Elmo" is finally here - and it's the hysterically laughing, belly-clutching, floor-thumping Elmo. Fisher-Price, a division of No. 1 toymaker Mattel, unveiled the new T.M.X. Elmo to the world Tuesday. Elmo fans could face a shortage of the new T.M.X. Elmo over the holidays. "T.M.X." stands for 2 things - "Tickle Me extreme" or "Tickle Me 10," representing the toy's 10-year milestone. (CNN)

Read more about the Elmo TMX at Boing Boing.

How Was "Liquid Paper" Named?

2006-09-19T08:32:00.000-04:00

Liquid Paper, a brand name of opaque correction fluid, is used to cover up mistakes on paper without retyping the entire sheet. It was very important when material was typed with a typewriter, but less so since the advent of the word processor.

It was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 and originally called Mistake Out. Graham was a typist who developed a type of white tempera paint to cover up her mistakes. Her first batch was mixed together in a common kitchen blender.

She offered the product to IBM, which declined. She sold the product, renamed Liquid Paper, from her house for 17 years. By 1968 the product was profitable, and in 1979 it was sold to the Gillette Corporation for $47.5 million and royalties. She died the following year, with half her estate going to charity, and half to her only child, the actor, producer, businessman, and former member of The Monkees, Michael Nesmith. In 2000 Liquid Paper and related brands were acquired by Newell Rubbermaid. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Hewlett-Packard (HP)" Named?

2006-09-18T22:03:00.000-04:00

The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly known as HP, is one of the world's largest information technology corporations. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States, it has a global presence in the fields of computing, printing, and digital imaging, and also provides software and services. Their company's name, Hewlett-Packard, was derived from their last names (David Packard and Bill Hewlett) and had Bill Hewlett not won a coin toss, the company today could have been known as Packard-Hewlett. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Wal-Mart" Named?

2006-09-18T08:50:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American public corporation, founded (and named after) by Sam Walton in 1962 and first incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is the largest retailer in the world and the second largest corporation in the world, behind Exxon Mobil, based on revenue as of 2006. For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2006, Wal-Mart reported net income of $11.2 billion on $316 billion of sales revenue (3.5% profit margin). It is the largest private employer in the United States and Mexico. Wal-Mart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business, and is also the largest toy seller in the United States, with an estimated 22 percent of the retail toy business, having surpassed Toys "R" Us in the late-1990s. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Garmin" Named?

2006-09-18T08:40:00.000-04:00

Garmin Ltd., incorporated in George Town, Cayman Islands, is a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell, Min Kao, David Casey and Paul Shumaker, that develops consumer and aviation technologies for the Global Positioning System (GPS). Garmin was named after its founders, Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao. One of Garmin's early products, a handheld GPS receiver, proved popular with military personnel serving in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Tabasco Sauce" Named?

2006-09-18T08:26:00.000-04:00

Tabasco is the trademarked brand name for a hot pepper sauce that is a well-known table condiment. It is made by McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana, from tabasco peppers (Capsicum frutescens var. tabasco), vinegar, and salt, and aged in white oak barrels for three years. (The word "tabasco" is rendered in lowercase when referring to the botanical variety, but in uppercase, "Tabasco," when referring to the actual trademarked brandname.) There are many other kinds of "hot pepper sauce" on the market, most of them similar to Tabasco, but Tabasco is by far the most famous. Although it is produced in Louisiana, United States, it acquired its name from the state of Tabasco in Mexico. It has a hot, spicy flavor and is popular in many parts of the world. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Pee-Wee Herman" Named?

2006-09-17T13:24:00.001-04:00

Paul Reubens (born Paul Rubenfeld on August 27, 1952, in Peekskill, New York), is a famous American actor, writer, and comedian, best known professionally for his character "Pee-wee Herman".

In the 1970s, Reubens performed at local comedy clubs and made four guest appearances on The Gong Show. He soon joined the Los Angeles-based improvisational comedy team The Groundlings and remained a member for six years, working with Bob McClurg, John Paragon, Susan Barnes, and Phil Hartman. Hartman and Reubens became friends, often writing and working on material together. Reubens wrote sketches and developed his improvisational skills. He also forged a significant friendship and working relationship with Hartman, with whom he developed the "Pee-wee Herman" character. The inspiration for the name came from a Pee-wee brand miniature harmonica and the surname of an energetic boy Reubens knew from his youth. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Free FM" Named?

2006-09-17T13:16:00.000-04:00

"Free FM" is the moniker and on-air brand of several FM talk radio stations in the United States owned by CBS Radio, created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to re-establish that you pay for satellite radio. In his last days on FM radio, Stern attacked the "Free FM" moniker, arguing that while it may cost nothing to listen, "Free FM" is far from free, in regards to FCC censorship. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Dr. Scholl's" Named?

2006-09-16T17:59:00.000-04:00

Dr. Scholl's is a brand of foot-care products manufactured by Schering-Plough and footwear made by Brown Shoe Company. The company was founded by William Mathias Scholl, who was born in 1882 and graduated from Illinois Medical School in 1904, thereby becoming a doctor (podiatrist). Scholl and his company invented a number foot care products, which he marketed with his company after 1906. These include the Foot Eazer, the Zino Pad, rubberless stockings, Foot Wings arch supports, and Ball-O-Foot Cushions. The first company retail store was opened in 1928. William M. Scholl passed away in 1968 at the age of 86, leaving the company to his nephew, William H. Scholl. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Starbucks" Named?

2006-09-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

Starbucks is the world's largest multinational chain of coffee shops, with corporate headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States.

According to Howard Schultz's book Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, the name of the company was derived from Moby-Dick, although not in as direct a fashion as many assume. Gordon Bowker liked the name "Pequod" (the ship in the novel), but his creative partner Terry Heckler objected: "No one's going to drink a cup of Pee-quod!" Heckler suggested "Starbo," the name of a mining camp on Mount Rainier. Combining the Moby-Dick idea with "Starbo" resulted in the company being named for the Pequod's first mate, Starbuck.

The company logo is a two-tailed mermaid. The logo has been streamlined over the years. In the first version, the Starbucks siren had bare breasts and a fully-visible double fish tail. In the second version, her breasts were covered by hair, but her navel was still visible, and the fish tail was cropped slightly. In the current version, her navel and breasts are not visible at all, and only vestiges remain of the fish tails. The original logo can still be seen on the Starbucks store in Seattle's Pike Place Market. (Wikipedia)

How Was the "FICO Score" Named?

2006-09-15T07:42:00.000-04:00

A FICO score is a credit score developed by Fair Isaac & Co. Credit scoring is a method of determining the likelihood that credit users will pay their bills. Fair, Isaac began its pioneering work with credit scoring in the late 1950s and, since then, scoring has become widely accepted by lenders as a reliable means of credit evaluation. A credit score attempts to condense a borrowers credit history into a single number. Fair, Isaac & Co. and the credit bureaus do not reveal how these scores are computed. The Federal Trade Commission has ruled this to be acceptable.

Credit scores are calculated by using scoring models and mathematical tables that assign points for different pieces of information which best predict future credit performance. Developing these models involves studying how thousands, even millions, of people have used credit. Score-model developers find predictive factors in the data that have proven to indicate future credit performance. Models can be developed from different sources of data. Credit-bureau models are developed from information in consumer credit-bureau reports. (Found Here)

How Was "Borders" Named?

2006-09-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

Borders Group is an international bookseller based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Borders is a Fortune 500 company, and is (as of 2005) the second-largest bookstore chain in the United States (after Barnes & Noble), selling a wide variety of books, CDs, DVDs, periodicals, as well as gifts and stationery.

The original Borders bookstore is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it was founded in 1971 by brothers Tom and Louis Borders. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Shell Oil" Named?

2006-09-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

Royal Dutch Shell PLC is a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest energy corporations in the world, and one of the five "supermajors" (vertically integrated private-sector oil, natural gas, and petrol (gasoline) companies).

The origin of the brand name Shell is linked to the origins of The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company. In 1833, the founder's father, also Marcus Samuel, founded an import business to sell seashells to London collectors. When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea area in 1892, the younger Samuel realised there was potential in exporting lamp oil from the region and commissioned the world's first purpose built oil tanker, the Murex, to enter this market. By 1907 the company had a fleet of oil tankers.

The Shell emblem is one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world. Known as the "Pecten" after the sea shell, the giant scallop, Pecten maximus, on which its design is based, the current version of the logo was designed by Raymond Loewy and introduced in 1971. (Wikipedia)

How Was The "Associated Press (AP)" Named?

2006-09-12T08:53:00.000-04:00

The Associated Press , or, "AP" was formed in May 1846 by representatives of five competitive New York City newspapers, who wanted to pool resources to collect news from Europe. The driving force in its formation was Moses Yale Beach, publisher of the New York Sun, when he invited the other New York publishers to join the Sun in a cooperative venture in covering the Mexican-American War. The five New York papers joined in the agreement were the Sun, the Journal of Commerce, the Courier and Enquirer, the Herald, and the Express. Until then, newspapers competed by sending reporters out in rowboats to meet the ships as they arrived in the harbor. In 1849 it opened the first bureau outside the U.S., in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to meet ships from Europe before they docked in New York. In 1861, facing censorship in covering the American Civil War, reporters first filed under the anonymous byline "from the Associated Press agent." (Wikipedia)

How Was "Cadillac" Named?

2006-09-10T12:35:00.000-04:00

Cadillac is a brand of luxury automobile, part of General Motors, produced and mostly sold in the United States and Canada; outside of North America, they have been less successful. In the United States, the name became a synonym for "high quality", used in such phrases as "the Cadillac of clocks."

Cadillac was formed from the remnants of the Henry Ford Company when Henry Ford departed along with several of his key partners. With the intent of liquidating the firm's assets, Ford's financial backers, William Murphy and Lemuel Bowen called in engineer Henry M. Leland to appraise the plant and equipment prior to selling them. Instead, Leland persuaded them to continue in the automobile business. Henry Ford's departure required a new name, and on August 22, 1902, the company reformed as the Cadillac Automobile Company.

The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan in 1701.

How Was "Bugs Bunny" Named?

2006-09-10T11:53:00.000-04:00

Bugs Bunny is a fictional street-smart anthropomorphic gray rabbit who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros., and is one of the most recognizable characters, real or imaginary, in the world. According to his biography, he was "born" in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York and was originated by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, who created a prototypical version of the character called Happy Rabbit in 1938's "Porky's Hare Hunt" (Wikipedia)

How Was "Evel Knievel" Named?

2006-09-10T10:40:00.000-04:00

Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, Jr. (born October 17, 1938 in Butte, Montana) is an American stuntperson, best known for his public displays of long distance, high-altitude motorcycle jumping which often resulted in serious injuries, particularly during the 1960s

After one particular police chase in 1956 in his hometown of Butte, Montana, in which he crashed his motorcycle, Knievel was taken to jail on a charge of reckless driving. When the night jailer came around to check the roll, he said "Hey, we got a guy named Knievel in one cell and another named Knofel in the other. Goddamn! Double the guard! We got Evil Knievel and Awful Knofel here tonight." The nickname stuck. (Wikipedia)

How Were "Zippo Lighters" Named?

2006-09-10T10:30:00.000-04:00

A Zippo Lighter is a refillable, metal lighter manufactured by Zippo Manufacturing Company. They are frequently collected and hundreds of different styles and designs have been made in the seven decades since their introduction.

George G. Blaisdell founded Zippo Manufacturing Company (located in Bradford, Pennsylvania) in 1932, and produced the first Zippo lighter in early 1933, being inspired by an Austrian cigarette lighter of similar design. It got its name because Blaisdell liked the sound of the word "zipper" (according to John Ratzenberger's television show Made in America and the Zippo Manufacturing Company's website), and also felt that the sound of the lighter opening resembled the sound of a zipper. On March 3, 1936, patent no. 2032695 was granted for the Zippo lighter. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Scotch Tape" Named?

2006-09-10T10:22:00.000-04:00

Scotch Tape is a family of adhesive tapes manufactured by 3M Company. It was developed in the 1930s by inventor Richard Drew. Although it is a trademarked brand name, it is widely used in the USA as a generic term for any transparent adhesive tape.

Use of the term 'Scotch' in the name has a rather pejorative origin. During testing, the tape came loose because it was not fully coated with adhesive. A remark was made that the stingy Scotch bosses need to put more adhesive on it; the name has stuck ever since. Scotty McTape, a kilt-wearing cartoon boy, was the brand's mascot for two decades, first appearing in 1944. The familiar plaid design was introduced to packing soon afterwards in 1945. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Blaupunkt" Named?

2006-09-10T10:13:00.000-04:00

Blaupunkt is a German electronic equipment manufacturer, noted for their home and car audio equipment. 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. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Benihana" Named?

2006-09-09T12:15:00.000-04:00

Benihana is the name of a chain of Japanese restaurants known for the flavor of its food as much as the showmanship with which it is prepared in front of the customers.

Benihana has its roots in Japan in the years immediately following World War II. Yunosuke Aoki, a samurai descendant and entertainer, along with his wife, Katsu, opened a small coffee shop in Tokyo. The shop was named "Benihana" ("red flower" in japanese) after a red safflower that grew in the streets. Run by the Aokis and their four sons, this coffee shop eventually became a full service restaurant.

The eldest son, Hiroaki (later Americanized as Rocky) took after his father's appreciation for the theatrical, including the notion of combining Japanese food with entertainment. Rocky opened his first restaurant in 1964 in New York on West 56th Street with room enough for just four tables.

The interior of the restaurant was styled after a Japanese farmhouse. The food was prepared before the customers at their tables in the teppanyaki style (Teppan meaning "steel grill" and yaki meaning "broiled"). Partly due to the restaurant's proximity to Broadway, Aoki believed showmanship and entertainment at Benihana was of great importance. The chefs would not only cook the food with flair, but also make sure all the different ingredients were served simultaneously. With emphasis placed on high customer contact service, the restaurant can be recognized as a service innovation, while Aoki's grouping of eight people per table ensured a profitable cycle time.

How Were "Glove Compartments" Named?

2006-09-09T09:14:00.000-04:00

A glove compartment (or glovebox in British English) is a compartment built into the dashboard, located over the passenger's footwell in an automobile, often used for miscellaneous storage. The name derives from the original purpose of the compartment, to store gloves. Gloves were originally considered necessary equipment in early cars, many without a hard top, to prevent the cooling effect of fast moving air from freeze numbing the drivers hands.

A glove compartment is sometimes referred to as a "jockey box," especially in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Absolut Vodka" Named?

2006-09-09T09:01:00.000-04:00

Absolut Vodka is a Swedish brand of vodka, owned by V&S Group, and produced at their facilities near Åhus, Skåne in southern Sweden.

The name "Absolut" was introduced in 1879 by the entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith. Smith introduced fractional distillation that produces liquor without fusel oil in Sweden. The name "Absolut Renat Brännvin" (Totally Distillated Vodka) was introduced by Smith to market his much improved product. Smith challenged the city of Stockholm's liquor marketing monopoly with his superior vodka. It was sold at a lower price than the monopoly's product, just outside the city border. Smith even offered free boat rides to the distillery and "Renat Brännvin" made Smith a fortune. In 1917 the alcohol industry in Sweden was monopolized by the Swedish government. Vodka was then sold nationwide under the name "Absolut Renat Brännvin". The name of the by then rather unfashionable brand was cropped to "Renat Brännvin" in the mid 1970's. In 1979 the old name Absolut was picked up when the upper-price range Absolut Vodka was introduced. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Merrill-Lynch" Named?

2006-09-09T08:46:00.000-04:00

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., through its subsidiaries and affiliates, primarily, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated, provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related products and services on a global basis. The firm's global headquarters are located in New York City and it is one of the most recognizable names in financial services. The company occupies the entire 34 stories of the Four World Financial Center building in Manhattan.

The company was founded on January 6, 1914, when Charles E. Merrill & Co. opened for business at 7 Wall Street in New York City. A few months later, Merrill's friend, Edmund C. Lynch, joined him and in 1915 the name was officially changed to Merrill Lynch & Co. (Wikipedia)

How Were "Pez Candies" Named?

2006-09-09T08:25:00.000-04:00

PEZ is the shortened name of PEZ Candy Inc. It is also the name of two of its product categories, namely:

Pressed, dry candies, straight-edged and shaped like 3/8-inch- (1-cm-) long bricks,
Pocket mechanical dispensers for such candy. (holds 12 pieces of pez candy)

The name PEZ was derived from the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first PEZ flavor. PEZ was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-upper-case spelling of PEZ echoes the trademark's style of type on packaging and the dispensers themselves, drawn in perspective and looking as if the letters were built out of brick-like PEZ candies. (Wikipedia)

How Was "The Soup Nazi" Named?

2006-09-08T15:37:00.000-04:00

Yev Kasem (a.k.a. the Soup Nazi) was a fictional character portrayed by Larry Thomas in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The Soup Nazi was a stone-faced immigrant chef with a thick Stalin-esque moustache, who was well-known throughout the city for his delicious soups. He demanded that all customers in his restaurant follow his meticulous (and seemingly arbitrary) soup-ordering instructions to the letter, lest they be refused service by his insistent avowal, "No soup for you!" His character was based on Al Yeganeh, an actual New York City soup vendor who runs Soup Kitchen International in midtown Manhattan. The store is open only part of the year. In the summer, his customers are greeted with a sign indicating he has gone to "Argentina for the winter".

According to an Associated Press article published 2005 April 29, Yeganeh plans to open a chain of soup stores under the name "The Original Soup Man" across the country. The first franchise opened in Princeton, New Jersey on October 24, 2005. His company, Soup Kitchen International, plans to open 1000 outlets nationwide. (Wikipedia)

How Were "Hilton Hotels" Named?

2006-09-08T15:00:00.000-04:00

Hilton is the flagship brand of Hilton Hotels Corporation and is based in Beverly Hills, California. It is one of the world's largest chains of hotels.

Since its founding in 1919 by Conrad Hilton, Hilton Hotels has grown to become the America's first coast-to-coast hotel chain, placing special emphasis on business travel, but owning and operating a number of resorts and leisure-oriented hotels as well. (Wikipedia)

How Was Space Shuttle "Atlantis" Named?

2006-09-08T14:26:00.000-04:00

Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-104) is one of the space shuttle fleet belonging to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She was the fourth operational shuttle built and after February 2003 is one of only three (along with Discovery and Endeavour) fully operational shuttles remaining in the fleet, following the destructions of Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003).

Atlantis was named in honor of the first United States oceanographic research vessel, a two-masted sailing ship operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1930 to 1966, as well as the mythical island of Atlantis. (Wikipedia)

UPDATE: The Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully blasted off around 11:10am from Florida on September 9, 2006.

How Was "Fender Guitars" Named?

2006-09-08T08:58:00.000-04:00

The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, initially named the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was started by Leo Fender in 1946, and is one of the most widely recognised manufacturers of electric guitars, electric basses and amplifiers. Fender is particularly important because of its role in bringing solid body electric guitars to the masses. Fender offered the first mass-produced solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar, the Telecaster (originally named the 'Broadcaster', 'Esquire' is a single pickup version); the first mass-produced electric bass, the Precision Bass (or P-Bass); and the enormously popular Stratocaster guitar (or 'Strat' for short). (Wikipedia)

How Was "Beef Jerky" Named?

2006-09-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

"Beef Jerky" is meat which has been cut into strips with the fat trimmed off, marinated in a spiced, salty or sweet liquid for a desired flavor, then dried with low heat (usually under 160°F or 70°C). The result is a strip of a salty, semi-sweet snack which can be stored for long periods of time without refrigeration. Similar products include pemmican and biltong The word "jerky" itself comes from the Quechua term Charqui, which means "dried meat". (Wikipedia)

How Was "STP" Named?

2006-09-07T16:31:00.000-04:00

STP is a brand name and trade name for the automotive additives and performance division of the Clorox Corporation.

Founded in 1953 in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the company’s name, STP, was derived from “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”. The company entered into the marketplace with one product, STP Oil Treatment.

For a long time STP was the sponsor of stock-car drivers Richard Petty and John Andretti, as well as having been a sponsor of Indy racecar driver Mario Andretti, John's uncle.

How Was "Oreo" Named?

2006-09-07T15:32:00.000-04:00

Oreo is a trademark for a popular type of sandwich cookie manufactured by the Nabisco Corporation, introduced in 1912.

Some have suggested the name "Oreo" came about because it was a nice and melodic use of sounds that were easy to pronounce. Others claim the name is based on the French word for gold, a color used on early packaged designs. Another theory is that the name comes from the Greek word for "nice" or "hill" (oreo), as previously mentioned. Some people believe that the creators took the re from the word cream and that the two o's represent the two cookies on both the bottom and the top (o-re-o).

How Was "White Castle" Named?

2006-09-07T14:10:00.000-04:00

White Castle is the oldest American hamburger fast food restaurant chain. It is known for square burgers, commonly referred to as "sliders" (or "slyders"), which were priced at 5 cents until the 1940s, and remained at ten cents for years thereafter while growing smaller. For several years, when the original burgers sold for 5 cents, White Castle periodically ran promotional ads in local newspapers which contained coupons offering 5 burgers for 10 cents, takeout only. The typical White Castle restaurant architecture features a white exterior with a crenelated tower at one corner to resemble a medieval castle. The Chicago Water Tower, which stands on Michigan Avenue, is said to be the model for the classic building. The company was founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, when entrepreneur Billy Ingram partnered with cook Walter Anderson, who had developed an efficient way of cooking hamburgers quickly. Anderson's original method used freshly ground beef and fresh onions.

White Castle was an early example of successful fast food marketing. While the White Castle company is based on four earlier hamburger stands owned by Anderson, the current name was chosen by Ingram in 1921 to distinguish it from other, less salubrious fast food outlets that many consumers were reluctant to visit (White Castle's own facilities, prior to 1921, were considered shoddy by some). "White" was chosen for its connotations of purity, while the "Castle" element was selected as it suggested stability and permanence. This factor was essential in the store's early successes, so much so that several chains (some of which still exist, such as Krystal) imitated the formula.

How Was "Fruit of the Loom" Named?

2006-09-06T10:01:00.000-04:00

Fruit of the Loom is an American company which manufactures clothing, particularly underwear. The Fruit of the Loom brand dates back to 1851 in Rhode Island when Robert Knight, a textile mill owner, visited his friend, Rufus Skeel. Mr. Skeel owned a small shop in Providence, Rhode Island that sold cloth from Mr. Knight's mill. Mr. Skeel's daughter painted images of fruit and applied them to the bolts of cloth. The ones with the fruit emblems proved most popular. Mr. Knight thought the labels would be the perfect symbol for his trade name, Fruit of the Loom.

In 1871, just one year after the first trademark laws were passed by Congress, Mr. Knight received patent number 418 for the brand, Fruit of the Loom. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Polyester" Named?

2006-09-06T08:51:00.000-04:00

Polyester is a category of polymers, or, more specifically condensation polymers, which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Usually, polyester refers to cloth woven from polyester fiber. Polyester clothing is generally considered to have a "less natural" feeling to it compared to natural fibers. Polyester fibers are often spun together with fibers of cotton, producing a cloth with some of the better properties of each.

How Was "Häagen-Dazs" Named?

2006-09-06T08:42:00.000-04:00

Häagen-Dazs is an American brand of ice cream, established by Reuben Mattus in The Bronx, New York in 1961. It has also become a specialty ice cream chain store which sells its own brand of ice cream at locations around the world. Häagen-Dazs produces ice cream, ice cream bars, sorbet, and frozen yogurt.

Contrary to common belief, the name is not European; it is simply two made-up words meant to look European to American eyes. This is known in the marketing industry as foreign branding. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Jägermeister" Named?

2006-09-06T08:07:00.000-04:00

Jägermeister is German for master of the hunt in the sense of "expert" or "committed" hunter. It's a strong (70-proof; 35%) liqueur flavored with herbs (similar to Danish stomach bitters such as Gammel Dansk, the Hungarian Unicum, or Czech liqueur Becherovka). The exact list of the 56 herbs used is kept secret. Although licorice is a major component of its flavor, it is not as predominant in Jägermeister as it is in true licorice-flavored liqueurs. Contrary to urban legends, Jägermeister contains neither deer blood nor opium. (Wikipedia)

How Was "Pluto" Named?

2006-09-03T12:49:00.000-04:00

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the solar system, orbiting 29 - 49 AU from the Sun. The name Pluto was first suggested by Venetia Phair (née Burney), at the time an eleven-year-old girl from Oxford, England. Venetia, who was interested in Classical mythology as well as astronomy, suggested the name, the Roman equivalent of Hades, in a conversation to her grandfather Falconer Madan, a former librarian of Oxford University's Bodleian Library. Madan passed the suggestion to Professor Herbert Hall Turner, Turner then cabled the suggestion to colleagues in America. After favourable consideration which was almost unanimous, the name Pluto was officially adopted and an announcement made by Slipher on March 5, 1930.

The name retained for the object is that of the Roman god Pluto, and it is also intended to evoke the initials of the astronomer Percival Lowell. (Wikipedia)

How Was The "Xbox" Named?

2006-09-03T12:43:00.000-04:00

The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. The Xbox was Microsoft's first independent venture into the video game console arena, after having developed the operating system and development tools for the MSX, and having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Sega Dreamcast console.

According to Dean Takahashi's book, "Opening the Xbox", the Xbox was originally going to be called the DirectXbox, to show the extensive use of DirectX within the console's technology. However, "Xbox" was the final name decided by marketing, but the console still retains some hints towards DirectX, most notably the "X"-shaped logo, which DirectX is famous for. (Wikipedia)

How Were "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups" Named?

2006-09-02T16:11:00.000-04:00

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are peanut butter-filled chocolate cups. They were created in approximately 1928 by H. B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey. Reese established the H. B. Reese Candy Co. in the basement of his house in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which went on to merge with The Hershey Company in 1963 due to the ever-growing popularity of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. (Wikipedia)

How Was "NASCAR" Named?

2006-09-01T09:24:00.000-04:00

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. The three largest racing series sanctioned by NASCAR are the NEXTEL Cup, the Busch Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. It also oversees NASCAR Regional Racing and the Dodge Weekly Series. NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 38 states, Canada, and Mexico. In 1996, 1997 and 1998, NASCAR held exhibition races in Japan. NASCAR also held an exhibition race in Australia in 1988.

Beginning as regional entertainment in the Southeastern U.S., NASCAR has grown to become the second most popular professional sport in terms of television ratings inside the U.S., ranking behind only the National Football League.

How Was "IKEA" Named?

2006-09-01T09:15:00.000-04:00

IKEA is a privately held Swedish international low cost home furnishings retailer. IKEA was founded in Älmhult, Sweden in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, then 17. The company name is a composite of the first letters in his 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. This acronym is incidentally similar to the Greek word οικία [oikia] (home) and to the Finnish word oikea (correct, right). IKEA is generally pronounced /iˈke.a/ (IPA but in many English-speaking regions, it is pronounced /aɪˈkiːə/ rhyming with the word "idea". (Wikipedia)

How Was "Woodstock" Named?

2006-08-30T22:19:00.000-04:00

The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was a rock festival held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York from August 15–August 18, 1969. It is arguably and very widely viewed as the most famous rock festival ever held. For many, it exemplified the counterculture of the 1960s and the "hippie era". Many of the best-known musicians of the times appeared during the rainy weekend, captured in a successful 1970 movie, Woodstock. Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which memorialized the event, became a major hit for Crosby Stills Nash and Young.

The festival bears the name "Woodstock", because it was originally scheduled to take place in the town of Woodstock, in Ulster County; however, the town offered no appropriate site to host such a large event due to their belief that over a million people would attend. A site was found in the town of Wallkill. When local opposition arose, the event was almost cancelled, but Sam Yasgur persuaded his father Max to allow the concert to be held on the family's alfalfa field, located in Sullivan County, about 40 miles southwest of Woodstock. (Wikipedia)

You can purchase an insider's guide to Woodstock in co-producer Artie Kornfeld's book titled "30 Years of Peace & Music & Other Things" which can be found here.

How Was "Goodyear" Named?

2006-08-30T22:08:00.000-04:00

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by German immigrants Charles and Frank Seiberling. Today it is the third largest tire and rubber company in the world behind Michelin and Bridgestone/Firestone. It manufactures tires for automobiles, airplanes, and heavy machinery. In addition it makes rubber hoses, shoe soles, and parts for electric printers.

Although the company was not connected with him, it was named in honor of Charles Goodyear. Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1839. Goodyear is known throughout the world because of its famous Goodyear Blimps. For many years it maintained an aerospace subsidiary, first named Goodyear Aircraft Company and then after World War II renamed Goodyear Aerospace Corporation. The subsidiary was sold in 1987 to Loral Corp., in the aftermath of Sir James Goldsmith's greenmail attack.

How Was "Sirius Satellite Radio" Named?

2006-08-30T12:27:00.000-04:00

Sirius Satellite Radio (pronounced: serious) is one of two satellite radio (DARS) services and is based in New York City that provides 68 streams (channels) of music and 55 streams of sports, news and entertainment to the United States and Canada. (The other satellite radio service is XM Radio) Music streams on Sirius carry a wide variety of music genres, broadcasting 24 hours a day, commercial free. A subset of Sirius’ music channels are included as part of the DISH Network satellite television service. Sirius channels are identified by Arbitron with the label “XS” (e.g. “XS120”, “XS9”, “XS17”). With any Sirius-enabled radio, the user can see the artist and song information on display while listening to the stream. The streams are broadcast from three satellites in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit above North America.

Sirius was previously known as CD Radio. The company changed its name to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. on November 18, 1999. The dog in the Sirius logo (Sirius is referred to as the "Dog Star") is unofficially named “Mongo,” a name garnered from the debut of Sirius Satellite Radio’s sponsorship on Casey Atwood’s and later Jimmy Spencer’s NASCAR entry, when the announcing cast voted on names. “Mongo” later became NASCAR driver Spencer’s nickname with the NASCAR Broadcasters in the following races.

Reports suggesting Howard Stern returning to regular radio are "untrue" according to this article posted in September, 2006.

How Was "Jack FM" Named?

2006-08-29T11:52:00.000-04:00

"Jack FM" is the moniker and on-air brand of several radio stations in Canada and the United States. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack stations use the slogan "playing what we want", and promote themselves as having a larger and more varied playlist than other commercial radio stations. It is not unusual for a Jack-FM station to have a playlist of over 1000 songs compared to a normal FM station which sometimes have play lists of fewer than 100 songs. The stations are officially classified as the Variety Hits or Adult Hits format by radio research companies.

One of the early originators of this format was radio programmer Bob Perry, on an American Internet radio stream in 2000. However, according to Rogers Communications, the only thing taken for the first JACK-FM radio station in Vancouver was the name and the tagline (both trademarked by Perry). JACK program director Pat Cardinal says that he was unaware of the type of music on the American website and that "JACK" was one of several names that were considered for the format. Perry named the station after a fictitious persona, "Cadillac Jack" Garrett, "a hard-living radio cowboy" whose motto was "playing what we want." Rogers Communications licensed the trademarks from Perry for their use in Canada soon after the launch. (Wikipedia)

An example of a Jack station can be found here.

Technorati Tags: Trivia, Jack FM, Music, Radio, Sound, Fun, Name, FM, Station, Jack, Songs

How Was "Michelob" Named?

2006-08-28T12:58:00.000-04:00

Michelob is the trade name of a family of beers produced by the Anheuser-Busch brewery. It takes its name from a specialty beer developed by Adolphus Busch in 1896 as a "draught beer for connoisseurs". When Michelob was introduced, it accounted for less than one percent of the brewery's production, and was only distributed in kegs, unpasteurized. There was a limited, two-barrel bottling in 1908.

Production of Michelob was, as with all beer in the United States, ceased during the Prohibition period. Even after Prohibition however, the production of Michelob by the brewery remained around four percent or less of its total output.

In 1961, a method was devised by the Anheuser-Busch brewmasters to produce a pasteurized version of Michelob which did not diminish flavor beyond acceptable levels. This allowed legal shipment of the beer across state lines. Bottled beer began to be shipped soon after, and the brand was introduced in cans as well in 1966. (WikiPedia)

How Was "Geico" Named?

2006-08-28T09:52:00.000-04:00

Government Empployees Insurance Company (GEICO) is an auto insurance company based in the United States. It was founded by Leo and Lillian Goodwin to market auto insurance directly to federal government employees and their families. GEICO was based on the assumption that such persons would constitute a more financially stable and less risky pool of potential insureds than the general public. After real-time access to computerized driving records became available in the 1970s throughout the United States, GEICO gradually began to insure the general public as well.

GEICO's advertising strategy incorporates a saturation-level amount of print (primarily mail circulars) and television parody advertisements, as well as radio advertisements.

The ads sometimes focus on the company's mascot, the GEICO talking gecko, created by The Martin Agency and most recently a CGI creature generated by Rhythm and Hues Studios. The gecko first appeared in 2000 during the Screen Actors Guild strike that ruled out live actors. In the first commercial, where people kept calling the gecko as a wrong number for GEICO, the gecko was given a high-class British accent because it would be unexpected, according to The Martin Agency's Steve Bassett. In current commercials the gecko's accent is more working-class, to further "humanize" him. "As (computer animation) got better and as we got to know the character better, we did a few things," says Steve Bassett, creative director at The Martin Agency. "We wanted to make him a little more guy-next-door. And he looks a lot more real than he's looked before.

How Was The "Hurricane" Named?

2006-08-27T14:57:00.000-04:00

Editor's Note: In the spirit of the oncoming Hurricane Ernesto and the numerous hurricane parties that are about to ensue, we bring you the history of the infamous cocktail (from WikiPedia) known as the "Hurricane"...

A Hurricane is a drink made from passion fruit syrup and rum. It is one of the most popular drinks among tourists and locals alike in New Orleans.

The creation of this passion-colored relative of a Daiquiri drink is credited to Pat O'Brien. He is reported to have invented the Hurricane in the 1940s in New Orleans. Rumors say he needed to get rid of all the rum that Southern distributors forced him to buy before he could get a few cases of other spirits. He poured the concoction into hurricane-lamp-shaped glasses and gave it away to sailors. The drink caught on, and it's been part of the celebration ever since.

How Was "U-Haul" Named?

2006-08-27T13:02:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

U-Haul is a North American equipment rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen (1916-1999) in Ridgefield, Washington, who began it in the garage owned by his wife's family, and expanded through franchising with gas stations.

U-Haul is owned by Amerco, a holding company which also operates Amerco Real Estate, Republic Western Insurance, and Oxford Life Insurance. The Shoen family currently owns about 40% of the publicly-traded stock corporation. The company rents trucks, trailers, and other pieces of equipment, but many franchisees also provide storage, propane refueling, hitch and trailer wiring installation, and carpet cleaners, among other services.

How Was "Nathan's Hot Dogs" Named?

2006-08-27T12:43:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Nathan's Famous is a chain of U.S.-based fast food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

Nathan's began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and bears the name of founder Nathan Handwerker. A second branch on Long Beach Road in Oceanside, New York, opened in 1955, and another debuted in Yonkers in 1965. All were sold by the Handwerker family in 1987, at which point Nathan's was franchised and a great number of establishments were opened around New York City and beyond. The company went public in 1993, and Bill Handwerker, the founder's grandson, left the company three years later.

How Was "Velcro" Named?

2006-08-26T19:59:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

The hook and loop fastener was invented in 1948 by Georges de Mestral, a Swiss engineer. The idea came to him after he took a close look at the Burdock seeds which kept sticking to his clothes and his dog's fur on their daily walk in the Alps. De Mestral named his invention "VELCRO" after the French words velours, meaning 'velvet', and crochet, meaning 'hook'. Today, the uses and applications of the product are numerous, and the word "velcro" has even become a verb in the english language, much like "e-mail" or "fax."

How Was "Charmin" Named?

2006-08-26T19:51:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Charmin is a brand-name of extra-soft toilet paper owned by Procter & Gamble.

The Charmin name was first created in 1928 by the Hoberg Paper Company in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. The toilet paper was described as charming, thus, the name still used today.

Older advertisements featured the fictional grocer Mr. Whipple who told customers, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!".

How Was "Arizona Iced Tea" Named?

2006-08-26T19:40:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

The AriZona Beverage Company is a popular producer of various flavours of Iced Tea and Energy drinks from the United States, based in Lake Success, New York. The AriZona Beverage Company is a branch of Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons, which started out as a beer brewery in New York City.

It was named in honor of the U.S. state of Arizona, presumably where its founders were inspired to make a cold drink that could aid in battling the hot weather there.

How Was "Slinky" Named?

2006-08-26T19:36:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia & About.com:

A Slinky is a coil-shaped toy, invented by mechanical engineer Richard James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Slinkys come in various sizes, but are usually no larger than a grown adult's fist when compressed. The shape is a simple helix, or coil design, of a ribbon of material, originally metal. The Slinky is famous for its ability to "walk" down stairs as the coils stretch and reform as gravity moves them down each step.

Richard James told his wife Betty, "I think I can make a toy out of this" and then spent the next two years figuring out the best steel gauge and coil to use for the toy. Betty James found a name for the new toy after discovering in the dictionary that the word "Slinky" is a Swedish word meaning traespiral - sleek or sinuous.

How Was "Ovaltine" Named?

2006-08-26T18:53:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Ovaltine (registered trademark of Associated British Foods) is a brand of milk flavoring product made with sugar (except in Switzerland), malt extract, cocoa, and whey, by Wander AG, a subsidiary of Novartis Consumer Goods. It was developed in Switzerland, where it is known by its original name, Ovomaltine (from ovum, Latin for "egg", and malt, originally its main ingredients). The person credited with its original formulation is Dr. Albert Wander, son of the company's founder Dr. Georg Wander. Both Drs. Wander spent their lives working with malted barley extracts as nutritious food supplements. Also remember that "Ovaltine" is an anagram for "Vital One".

How Was "Yahoo!" Named?

2006-08-26T18:20:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Yahoo! Inc. is an American computer services company. It operates an Internet portal, the Yahoo! Directory and a host of other services including Yahoo! Mail. It was founded by Stanford graduate students David Filo and Jerry Yang in January of 1994 and incorporated on March 2, 1995. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Yahoo! started out as "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web", a web site featuring a directory of other sites, organized in a hierarchy (rather than a searchable index of pages). It was renamed "Yahoo!" shortly thereafter. "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" is a backronym for this name, but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, as in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." As the backronymed version of the name implies, it was not the first directory of its kind, but it was the first to become widely popular as "the" directory of the fledgling Web. Yahoo! itself first resided on Yang's student workstation, "Akebono," while the software was lodged on Filo's computer, "Konishiki", both named after famous sumo wrestlers. The "yet another" phrasing goes back at least to the Unix utility yacc, whose name is an acronym for "yet another compiler compiler".

How Was "Shaw's" Named?

2006-08-26T13:45:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Shaw's, along with sister store, Star Market, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Supervalu. The company is presently the second largest grocery group in the northeast United States.

In the late 1850s, George C. Shaw opened a small teashop in Portland, ME. Meanwhile, Maynard A. Davis established a group of small downtown grocery stores in the Brockton and New Bedford areas called Brockton Public Market or BPM. In 1919, Mr. Davis purchased George C. Shaw Company and made it a subsidiary of BPM. In 1978, BPM stores in Massachusetts changed their names to Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc. to maximize advertising. It was the first step in the contemplated merger of the two companies.

How Was "Nike" Named?

2006-08-20T14:40:00.000-04:00

From Nike History:

Nike got its start in Eugene, Oregon, and was the creation of two men, Bill Bowerman (1911–1999) and Philip Knight (1938–). Bowerman was a track-and-field coach at the University of Oregon who was constantly searching for an athletic shoe that would help his teams run faster and jump higher. Knight was a businessman who had been a runner on one of Bowerman's teams when he was in college. Knight and Bowerman teamed up in 1962, first to import Japanese running shoes, then to experiment with their own designs. They called their company Blue Ribbon Sports.

Though Knight and Bowerman were successful in creating shoes that improved athletes' performance on the field, they had to figure out how to sell their shoes to a wider market. In 1972, they adopted the name Nike, after the winged Greek goddess of victory, and their trademark "swoosh." The trademark was designed by Carolyn Davidson, a Portland State University graphic design student who was paid about $40 for the logo.

How Was "Oakley" Named?

2006-08-20T12:08:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Oakley is an eyewear company known mostly for their high end sunglasses and ski goggles. They also make watches, clothing, bags, backpacks, shoes, prescription glasses and other accessories. Their headquarters in the USA is in Foothill Ranch, CA and Letchworth, Hertfordshire in the UK.

Oakley's current chairman is Jim Jannard, who owns approximately 68% of the outstanding shares (2006), and reputedly named the company after his English setter Oakley.

How Was "Audi" Named?

2006-08-20T10:45:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Audi is a German automobile manufacturer with headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. Audi is a 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!".

How Was "Domino's Pizza" Named?

2006-08-19T20:53:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

The origins of Domino's Pizza began in 1960 when Tom Monaghan and his brother James bought a local pizzeria in Ypsilanti, Michigan, named Dominick's Pizza. The deal was secured by a $75 down payment, and the brothers borrowed $500 to pay for the store. Eight months later, James quit the partnership and traded his half of the business to Tom for a used Volkswagen Beetle. With Tom Monaghan as sole owner of the company, Dominick's Pizza became Domino's Pizza.