The search engine giant’s iconic name is the result of a student’s typo.
The name Google has become synonymous with searching for information on the Internet. HAYOUNG JEON
Google, the search engine used by billions of users, is one of the most iconic services in the internet world. However, few people know what Google got its name from, and even fewer know the story behind it.
Google started as a collaboration between two Stanford University students. The company’s developers Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at the university when Page showed Brin the university facilities. Later, a technology giant that generated billions was born from their cell homes.
From back massage to technology giants
Google originally operated under the name Backrub (Finnish back massage). The original name refers to how the search engine finds websites “behind the back”, so to speak.
However, since there is a considerable number of links on the internet, which should be made available to everyone in a neat and efficient way, the students started thinking about a new name through mathematical equations.
While brainstorming, one of the students went to misspell googol. Googol means a number with one hundred zeros after the number.
Also, many may not know that the structures of Google’s first server were built from Lego blocks. However, the names of Lego and Google have nothing to do with each other, even though they have the same letters.
In addition to its search engine, Google is also known for e.g. the Gmail e-mail service, map services, and nowadays also as the operator of the online video service YouTube.
A British newspaper reported about it Mirror.