Microsoft’s search engine, Bing
was named “Kumo,” during development, but Microsoft went with
Bing after focus groups said it reminded them of “the moment of
discovery.”
Yelp - The “yel” in “Yelp” comes from “yellow,” and
the “p” comes from “pages.” The business listings and ratings site
is like an Internet version of the Yellow Pages.
Twitter - It is a microblogging site and users’ posts
cannot exceed 140 characters. Those short messages reminded
company founders of birds chirping or twittering. Individual posts
are known as tweets and the logo is a bird.
Wikipedia - “Wiki” is Hawaiian for “quick,” and “pedia”
comes from “encyclopedia.” It is a quick encyclopedia added to and
edited by almost anyone.
The Onion - It began as a college newspaper, and founders
Tim Keck and Chris Johnson had so little money they ate onion
sandwiches. While planning the paper, Keck’s uncle saw them eating
onion sandwiches and reportedly said, “You should call the
newspaper The Onion.”
Skype - The video phone via Internet service got
its name from a shortening of the phrase “sky peer-to-peer,” as
users connect person-to-person via the cloud (Internet).
Etsy - Rob Kalin, founder of the marketplace where users
buy and sell vintage and handmade goods, wanted a nonsense word,
but as he was watching an Italian film, he noticed characters
often said “etsi”, which means “oh, yes.”
Pinterest - The name is a combination of “pin” and
“interest,” which reflects how the site functions. It is a social
network where users share pictures of things they find interesting
by “pinning” them on their pin board.