From Googol to Google: How a typo gave us one of the biggest tech giants in the world

We are so accustomed to the name ‘Google’ but it is clearly not a common name. Have you ever thought why the founders chose it in the first place? As per a report by New York Post, the name ‘Google’ was not a well-thought name but a result of a typo. Google was launched by Computer Scientists Sergey Brin and Larry Page who were also the PhD students at Stanford University in 1998.

While brainstorming, someone suggested them the name “Googol”. A term coined in 1920 Milton Sirotta, the 9-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, who frequently referenced the figure in his 1940 book called “Mathematics and the Imagination”. It represents 10 raised to the power of 100, or 1 with 100 zeros behind it, in terms of arithmetic vocabulary.

When Page checked with a techie to see if this domain name was available, he misspelled the name and checked for “Google” instead. Later, Page realised that he prefers “Google” better.

Notably, the report reveals that before “Googol”, the founders even thought of naming the company “Backrub” since the program used backlinks to search. Several people believe that Google stands for "Global Organisation of Oriented Group Language of Earth." which is untrue. To put it all together, a mere typo determined the name of one of the biggest search engine in the world.

The other big tech giant, Apple, was named by the co-founder Steve Jobs. The name came to his mind when he was coming back from a visit to Oregon to a place he called an ‘apple orchard’, reported Ladible. He suggested Apple Computer as the name of the company. However, Wozniak suggested ‘Apple Records’, a Beatles-owned record label. Finally, they came to a conclusion and settled at “Apple”.

As for Microsoft, back in 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, two tech whiz kids, named their company as Microsoft. Allen, the creative mind behind the duo, came up with "Micro-Soft." This was a clever combination of two words: "microcomputer" and "software". Originally written as "Micro-Soft" with a hyphen, the name eventually shed the hyphen to become the smooth and now-iconic "Microsoft."