The Myth of Google's Name

Where did it come from

[hannamyluv]

Today on ClickZ there was an article about Google's name becoming a household thing.

http*//www.clickz.com/search/opt/article.php/3068981

The article states that the word Google is based on the word "googol" which is a word for a big number.

Now, I have also heard that google came from the fact that the founders in the early days of the internet were a bit confused by the whole domain thing and had meant to put "Go Ogle" as in go look, but found that they couldn't put a space in the domain so it came out google.

Which is it? How did Google get it's name?

[jimbeetle]

According to the Google History [google.com] page the clikz article is right, "Google is a play on the word googol."

There's been a lot of speculation as to why they changed the spelling. My take is that it's much easier to defend a trademark for a made-up word than a real one.

[mivox]

the founders [...] were a bit confused by the whole domain thing

I'd be inclined to go with the "googol" idea... I don't think a couple of Stanford students who were big enough internet geeks to want to start a search engine would be 'confused by the whole domain thing' when it came time to name their project... ;)

[NorthernStudio]

Perhaps they merely lifted the name from "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith," the comic strip syndicated by King Features. It would make sense to concoct a story about basing it on a simliar but unrelated word so as to avoid the huge lawsuit that would arise as a result of the resulting marketplace confusion involving a search engine and a cartoon character with "the goo-goo-googly eyes."

Just my own speculation.

Wayne

[MonkeeSage]

I bet GOOGLE is an acronym...like...

Grand Overlord [and dungeon master] Of Geeks Lusting [for quasi-useful] Ephemera

Or...

Government Operated Omniscient Global Locator Engine

Depending on who you talk to ;)

Jordan

[dcheney]

Gargantuan Object-Oriented Gunk Locating Engine?

[bcolflesh]

Grim Overlord Of Gestating Liquid Enzymes

[bcolflesh]

Since G is in energy-conscious California, and judging by those G-Dance pics, maybe it's:

Gas Operated Office Guarantees Luscious Employees

[NorthernStudio]

Generally Only One Guess Locates Everything?

Wayne

[volatilegx]

Good one, Wayne :)

[Chndru]

g1 wayne

[mil2k]

One of the other theories which I have heard is that when the founders completed their presentation to the VC , he was very impressed and gave a cheque in the name of Google ( a mis-spelling). Hence the Company name stuck.

[Marval]

Google's name is a play on the word googol, which refers to the number 1 followed by one hundred zeroes. The word was coined by the nine-year-old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner (From Googles Press Center)

Of course the most interesting fact found there:

The basis of Google's search technology is called PageRank™, and assigns an "importance" value to each page on the web and gives it a rank to determine how useful it is. However, that's not why it's called PageRank. It's actually named after Google co-founder Larry Page