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From Starbucks to Spotify, the origins of famous company names

The name game
Mitsubishi
Coca-Cola
Nintendo
Pepsi
Xerox
Kleenex
LEGO
Canon
Samsung
IKEA
Aldi
adidas
Taco Bell
Nike
Intel
Virgin
Starbucks
Zara
Microsoft
Apple
Adobe
Amazon
Yahoo!
eBay
Google
PayPal
ASOS
Spotify
Instagram
1 of 30
Joe McNally/Getty Images

The name game

What’s in a name? More than you might think. Many companies’ fortunes can be made or broken by their name, so it’s crucial to get it right – but how on earth do you make that kind of decision?

From the coffee chain named after a book character to the streaming service whose name was created by accident, read on to discover the weird and wonderful stories behind 29 famous brands' monikers.

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Rebecca Wright

27 March 2025

Features

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