116. How These 30 Famous Brands Got Their Names(part 2 : 15-30)

16. Volkswagen: Means 'People's car' in German.

There was a time when only very expensive cars used to ply on German roads. Volkswagen was a revolution.

Source: thecars

17. ebay: Originally called Echo Bay. The domain echobay.com was already taken. So it was shortened to ebay.

Source: fortune.com

18. IBM: Founder TJ Watson Sr wanted to be a step ahead of his former employers 'National Cash Register', so he decided to call his company 'International Business Machines'.

Source: pc-tablet.co.in

19. Nikon: Short for Nippon Kogaku, which means 'Japanese Optical'.

Source: ehiyo

20. Reebok: Derived from the Afrikaans spelling of an African Antelope, 'Rhebok'.

Source: emblanka

21. Starbucks: Named after a character in Moby Dick, Starbuck.

Originally the name 'Peqoud' was suggested, the name of the ship from the novel. When it got rejected, they settled for 'Starbuck', the chief mate of that very ship.

Source: independent.co.uk

22. Virgin: Because the business was new and the team members were virgins at business.

This was suggested by a girl in Richard Branson's team.

Source: telegraph

23. Durex: Durable, Reliable and Excellence.

Source: durex

24. Fanta: The head of the German Coca-Cola team asked them to use their'Fantasie' (imagination) to come up with the name. That did not take long though.

Source: visitoffice

25. Nivea: Derived from the Latin word 'Niveus', which means snow white.

Source: en-nivea

26. HP (Hewlett Packard): William Hewlett and David Packard flipped a coin to decide whose name would come first. 

Source: maxisciences

27. Toyota: Named after founder Kiichiro Toyoda. 

The name was changed to Toyota because Toyoda literally means, 'fertile rice paddies'.

Source: zipposh

28. Microsoft: A combination of the words Microcomputer and Software.

Source: variety.com

29. Cisco: Not actually an acronym. They just removed San Fran from San Francisco.

Source: wallpaperstock

30. Budweiser: Beer has been brewed in Budweis, Bohemia, since 1245. Budweiser means 'of Budweis' and was developed as a 'Bohemian-style' beer.

Founder Adolphus Busch was inspired to create the beverage after a trip to the region.

Source: displaymediagroup

Every brand has a story. And the name has of course been significant in these brands' success. Their name is now their fame!

(part 1 : 1-15)