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Apple, Hulu, Etsy: How famous tech companies got their names

Here's a look at some of the most prolific tech companies today and how they ended up with their names.

3. Bluetooth

Mike Blake/FILE/REUTERS
Johan Sjodahl, Ericsson's manager of business development, displays the Bluetooth Headset, a cellular phone headset that connects to a mobile phone by a radio link instead of a cable, at Comdex in Las Vegas November 15, 2009.

"Bluetooth" reaches back to an ancient king with a love of blueberries.

It's no secret that many tech companies believe their innovations will change the world. With this in mind, the creators of this technology, which connects devices wirelessly, turned to a historical figure that changed the landscape of Scandinavia.

Writing in EE Times, Bluetooth product manager Jim Kardach says that several different companies needed to team up in order to develop the technology, including Intel and Ericsson. Mr. Kardach was asked to come up with a code name for the project.

“I explained that Bluetooth was borrowed from the 10th century, second King of Denmark, King Harald Bluetooth; who was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link,” he explains. The name “Bluetooth” reportedly comes from the king’s penchant for blueberries.

Though originally just meant to be just a code name, the moniker (and metaphor) stuck.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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