How 7 Popular Apps Got Their Names

By Vivian El-Salawy on July 23, 2016

Millions of people all over the world have these 7 popular apps, but does anybody stop and think about their origins and how the founders came to their names? While some of them are relatively straightforward, others have interesting roots from different languages and believe it or not – some of them were actually accidents.  Here are some of the most popular apps and how they got their names:

  1. Facebook (Ranked #9)

    Image via Facebook

Facebook’s name is actually pretty straightforward.  According to Tabak’s article on the Harvard Crimson, facebook:

“A face book or facebook is a printed or online directory found at American universities consisting of individuals’ photographs and names. In particular, it denotes publications of this type distributed by university administrations at the start of the academic year with the intention of helping students get to know each other.”

This service, being launched at Harvard, was actually initially called TheFacebook, however the name eventually shifted to become Facebook.  Facebook is a social media platform, however it works hand-in-hand with the idea of tying individuals’ faces to their activities or lives, almost serving as an online directory that helps people connect with one another.

  1. Twitter (Ranked #24)

Image via Icon Founder

Lang’s article on Rewind & Capture goes over how Twitter got the idea of terminology such as “tweeting”, as well as their own company name.  Interestingly enough, the original name for the network was “Status”, however after flipping through the dictionary, co-founder Jack Dorsey (CEO of Square) came across the word twitter, which is defined as “a short burst of inconsequential information, and chirps from birds”.  Dorsey, inspired by flickr, called it “twttr” before changing it back to Twitter.

  1. Tumblr (Unranked in Top 100) 

Image via Icon Finder

American web developer and entrepreneur David Karp (founder and CEO of Tumblr) made a statement about his inspiration for Tumblr in an interview with More Intelligent Life:

“Back when we were starting Tumblr, there was a burgeoning movement in the blogosphere towards a format called ‘tumblelogs’ [a variation on blogs that tends towards shorter stream-of-consciousness posts, often with mixed media]. These are where the initial inspiration for Tumblr came from. We wanted to be the first and best platform for ‘tumblelog’, so the name seemed appropriate.”

Tumblr also correlates with this idea of tumbling through different content and media, similarly to how StumbleUpon utilized their name to convey the passing of ideas, whereas Tumblr focuses primarily on blogging and reblogging.

  1. Spotify (Ranked #17)

Image via iPhone Hacks

Founder and CEO of Spotify Daniel Elk addressed how Spotify came to be in a response to a question on Quora directly.  In his flat within the suburbs of Stockholm, Elk and Martin sat in different rooms shouting back and forth at one another of different company name ideas, using every stereotypical method (including name generators).  At one point, Martin shouted a name that Elk then misheard as Spotify.  After searching it on Google and there being no hits, they decided to roll with the name.  Embarssed to admit its origins, they went to say that Spotify stems from the “spot” and “identify”.  Silly how accidents can happen, but sometimes the most clever ideas come from a spurr of the moment incident.

  1. Uber (Ranked #15)

Image via GeekWire

Über is actually a German word meaning “over”, “above”, or “across”, according to Sarah Householder.  However, as the term crossed over into other languages, the connotation of “uber” began to resemble that of a “higher state”.  So, Uber (the company) was actually called Ubercab (meaning “higher” or “better” cab).  According to Kolodny of TechCrunch,  in 2010 the company got a cease and desist notice from the San Francisco Metro Transit Authority & Public Utilities Commision of California.  That same day, the company officially shortened their name to Uber.  While there is little to no information on whether or not the two events were related, many believe that this was no coincidence.

  1. Bumble (Unranked in Top 100)

Image via Clash Tech

According to Annaleise Schoups on Rewind & Capture, the idea for the name “Bumble” actually came from Whitney Wolfe, who served as Vice President of Marketing at Tinder.  After some complications in with a sexual harassment suit and a corresponding settlement, Wolfe went off to create her own company.  Wolfe admitted to Esquire that she wanted a foreign name (similarly to that of Uber) and she spent weeks on a Russian generator trying to find a fitting word, but a board member suggested the idea of Bumble, playing off of the concept of a bee society where there is a queen bee.  This seemed to fit Wolfe’s ideology behind the app where the woman is in charge within a mutually respectful community (as on the app, the woman is responsible for messaging the man first).

“It’s all about the queen bee and everyone working together. It was very serendipitous.” says Wolfe.

  1. Tinder (Ranked #70)

Image via the iPad Guide

A common idea behind online or virtual dating is the concept of lighting a spark between two different people.  The original name idea for Tinder was actually Matchbox.  According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, co-founder Jonathan Badeen that the trio decided against Matchbox, but still liked the idea behind some kind of synonym to fire.  After looking through several dictionaries and thesauruses, the team settled on Tinder, which Merriam Webster defines as “dry material (such as wood or grass) that burns easily and can be used to start a fire”, hence the icon of a flame.

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