Creating a strong brand identity is an integral aspect of any technology business, and a large part of any brand identity lies in its name. While many brands are simply named after their Founders, or geological locations others have more interesting origins. These names are often carefully chosen to reflect the company’s mission, values, or technological aspirations.
For instance, “Apple” was selected to signify simplicity and approachability in an industry that was perceived as overly technical and complex.
This strategic naming not only aids in creating a strong brand identity but also resonates with consumers on a deeper level, fostering a sense of trust and familiarity.
Let’s take a look at a few well known brands…
Cisco
The designation “Cisco” originates from the city of San Francisco, leading to the company’s engineers’ preference for the lowercase spelling “cisco” during its initial stages. The logo is designed to represent the Golden Gate Bridge’s two iconic towers.
Cloudflare
The first business plan was titled “Project Web Wall,” but that hardly resonated. A friend Matthew Prince’s (Co-Founder) suggested that they were creating a “firewall in the cloud,” so it should be known as Cloudflare. The name immediately felt right and stuck. Cloudflare is the cloud for the “everywhere world”.
Fortinet
In the year 2000, Ken Xie along with his brother Michael Xie established Appligation Inc. This entity underwent a name change to ApSecure in December of the same year and was subsequently rebranded as Fortinet, a name derived from the term “Fortified Networks.”
F5
F5 is named after the highest rating category on the Fujita Scale that is the global standard to measure tornado intensity
Initially named Backrub, the search engine was subsequently rebranded as Google. This new title derived from a mathematical term representing the number 1 followed by 100 zeros, effectively symbolising Larry and Sergey’s ambitious goal to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Microsoft
On April 4, 1975, Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates, who took on the role of CEO, and Paul Allen, who proposed the name “Micro-Soft,” a contraction for micro-computer software.
Oracle
The designation “Oracle” for the company originates from a mysterious project for the CIA, involving Larry Ellison and Bob Oats. This project, which revolved around the development of the first Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), was given the codename “Oracle” to signify its capability to provide answers to any conceivable question, echoing the quest for universal truths (akin to seeking the answer to life, the universe, and everything?).
Rapid7
The Founders traveled daily into the city on New York’s Rapid Transit system’s “Rapid7” train (their logo looks a bit like a bullet-train). With much of the planning and development for the company discussed on that commute, it seemed only right to name it Rapid7.
Zscaler
There isn’t a lot of information found online which outlines the full name meaning, what I did find is that Zenith of scalability would equal Zscaler.
