Creating a strong brand identity is an integral aspect of any consumer business, and a large part of any brand identity lies in its name. Let’s have a look at the real meaning behind the real meaning of the top 35 brands.

1. NIKE

Nike refers to a Greek goddess who epitomizes victory. Nike is an athletic shoe, apparel, and sports equipment brand.

2. SAMSUNG

The meaning of the Korean hanja word Samsung is “tri-star or “two stars”. The word two represents something big”, numerous and powerful”.

3. NIVEA

The word Nivea is derived from the Latin word “nix,nivis” meaning “snow  white”

4. REEBOK

The word Reebok has been taken from the name Afrikaans for the “grey rhebok” a type of African antelope.

5. DUREX

The British-born condom is simply an abbreviation of durability, reliability, and excellence.

6. LEGO

Lego comes from a contraction of the Danish phrase “leg godt”, which means “play well”.

7. PANTENE

The name Pantene was branded from name-based “panthenol’ as a shampoo ingredient.

8. VIRGIN

According to Richard Branson and Nik Powell, the founders considered themselves virgins in the business and gave the name when they formed a record shop.

9. PEZ

PEZ comes from the German word for peppermint, “Pfefferminz” taking P from the first letter, E from the middle letter, and E from the middle letter.

10. HAAGEN-DAZS

The name was created to appear Danish to honor Denmark for aiding Jews but has no meaning.

11. NIKON

Nikon word has been derived from Nikko which coincidently means “Sunlight” and is the name of a Japanese town.

12. LUFTHANSA

The word Lufthansa is composed of two words “Luft” which means air and “Hansa” which means guild.

13. FANTA

The word Fanta was chosen during an employee contest to name the beverage and were asked to use their “fantasie” and hence Fanta.

14. PANDORA

In Greek mythology, Pandora means “Omni gifted” or “all gifted”.

15. CADILLAC

Cadillac was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac who happens to be the founder of Detroit.

16. ALDI

Aldi is short for Albrecht Discount named after the brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht.

17. STARBUCKS

“Starbucks” name comes from the author Herman Melville’s Moby Dick novel, a mining town Starbos stood out of Bowker.

18. VOLKSWAGEN

Volkswagen means ‘People’s Car’ in German.

19. SONY

Sony is a mix of two words the Latin word “Sonus”, which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other “sonny”, a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a young boy.

20. REDDIT

Reddit is a play-on-words with the phrase “read it”

21. KODAK

The word Kodak is completely meaningless, made by George Eastman. He intended it to be an onomatopoeic suggestion of the click of a camera shutter.

22. SPAR

SPAR is an acronym for the slogan “ Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig”, which was used by Van Well to describe the brand and translate as “All benefit regularly by co-operating harmoniously”

23. ETSY

 It means “oh yes”, and is “eh, si” in actuality.

24. VERIZON

The name Verizon comes from a combination of two Latin words meaning truth, with the word horizon.

25. NINTENDO

The name Nintendo is commonly assumed to mean “leave luck to heaven”.

26. HYUNDAI

The name Hyundai means “modern times”, deriving from the Korean word ‘Hyun’ which means ‘modern’ or ‘present’ and “Dai” which refers to ‘era’ or ‘generation’.

27. DASANI

The Coca-Cola brand does not have any meaning or greater significance but was chosen for being relaxing and suggestive of pureness and replenishment.

28. TROJAN

Youngs Rubber Corporation debuted Trojan brand condoms with the image of a Trojan helmet in 1919 probably representing sturdiness and protection.

29. JAGERMEISTER

The name Jagermeister in German means “Master Hunter”, “Hunt Master” or “master of the hunt”. It is the title for a high-ranking official in charge of matters related to hunting and gamekeeping.

30. TRESEMME

The brand name is a phonetic respelling of “beloved” (French: tres-aime), which includes the surname of its namesake.

31. ADIDAS

The name Adidas is an abbreviation of the name of the founder Adolf (“Adi”) Dassler.

32. VENUS

The razor brand was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

33. TOYOTA

“Toyota names originated from the founder, Sakichi “Toyoda”.

34. VOLVO

It means “I roll” in Latin, conjugated from “Volvere”.

35. SUBARU

“Subaru” signifies a Japanese word meaning “Unite”, as well as a term identifying a cluster of six stars.