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Quiz about How the Company Got Its Name Part 2
Quiz about How the Company Got Its Name Part 2

How the Company Got Its Name, Part 2 Quiz


Ten more companies, ten more company names. Do you know how these ten companies got their names?

A multiple-choice quiz by jcpetersen. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
jcpetersen
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
341,050
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
828
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 86 (7/10), quizzer74 (9/10), Raven361 (7/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. The namesake beverage of the Coca-Cola Company is Coca-Cola, named after two of the ingredients: kola nuts and... what was the other ingredient? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Mattel Inc. is one of the world's largest toy companies. Where did the name come from? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. The U.S. insurance company GEICO is known for its popular advertising campaigns, but do you know what GEICO stands for? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The international fast food chain Wendy's was founded by Dave Thomas in 1969, but who was Wendy? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. How did Nabisco, an American brand of cookies and snack food, get its name? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Sony Corporation was originally an electronics manufacturer, but has since expanded into a multinational conglomerate corporation. The name "Sony" comes from the Latin "sonus" (sound) and a Japanese slang term that means what? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The American media company Viacom gets its name by combining what words? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. If you know what the Mitsubishi logo looks like, you have an advantage in this question, since the meaning of "Mitsubishi" is reflected in the company logo. What does Mitsubishi mean? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. LG Corp. is a South Korean conglomerate company. What do the letters "LG" stand for? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. In the 1980s the Hi-Toro company renamed itself Amiga, a word in Spanish/Portuguese that means what? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Oct 24 2024 : Guest 86: 7/10
Oct 21 2024 : quizzer74: 9/10
Oct 17 2024 : Raven361: 7/10
Sep 27 2024 : granpa46: 8/10
Sep 20 2024 : Guest 71: 6/10
Sep 17 2024 : Guest 69: 2/10
Sep 06 2024 : bernie73: 6/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The namesake beverage of the Coca-Cola Company is Coca-Cola, named after two of the ingredients: kola nuts and... what was the other ingredient?

Answer: cocaine

From 1886 until 1903, Coca-Cola did contain levels of cocaine. In 1904, Coca-Cola began using "spent" coca leaves that have all but very trace amounts of cocaine removed. Coca-Cola gets its cocaine-free coca extract from the Stepan Company. Their Maywood NJ facility is the only US site legally allowed to import coca plants. The cocaine is removed and sold to the Mallinckrodt company for medicinal use.

While carbon dioxide is used to make the carbonated beverage, that component is not the source of the "coca" in the name.
2. Mattel Inc. is one of the world's largest toy companies. Where did the name come from?

Answer: the names of the two founders

Mattel was founded in 1945 by Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler as a company that made picture frames. They made dollhouse furniture from picture frame scraps, which turned out to be more profitable than the frames themselves, and the company reinvented itself as a toy maker. Two of Mattel's most famous products, Barbie and Ken, are named after Handler's children.
3. The U.S. insurance company GEICO is known for its popular advertising campaigns, but do you know what GEICO stands for?

Answer: Government Employees Insurance Company

Leo and Lillian Goodwin founded GEICO in 1936, on the assumption that insuring government employees would involve less risk than insuring the general population. One of its popular advertising campaigns uses an anthropomorphic Day Gecko as a company spokesperson.
4. The international fast food chain Wendy's was founded by Dave Thomas in 1969, but who was Wendy?

Answer: his daughter

Rex David Thomas (1932-2002) had five children with his wife Lorraine, and Wendy was his youngest daughter Melinda's nickname. He never knew his birth mother, and was adopted as an infant by Rex and Auleva Thomas.

Bonus company name fact: In 2008, Wendy's merged with Triarc, the parent company of Arby's, and the new company name was Wendy's/Arby's Group. Arby's gets it name from its founders, Forrest and Leroy Raffel. "Arby's" stands for "R. B." for "Raffel Brothers" (not for the restaurant's signature roast beef sandwiches).
5. How did Nabisco, an American brand of cookies and snack food, get its name?

Answer: National Biscuit Company

Founded in 1898 after the merger of the New York Biscuit Company and the American Biscuit & Manufacturing Company, the National Biscuit Company wasn't officially known as Nabisco until 1971. As a subsidiary of Kraft Foods since 2007, many Nabisco products are sold under the Kraft brand in other countries outside of the US.

In Canada, Nabisco cookies are sold under the Christie brand, after a Canadian bakery Nabisco acquired in 1928.
6. Sony Corporation was originally an electronics manufacturer, but has since expanded into a multinational conglomerate corporation. The name "Sony" comes from the Latin "sonus" (sound) and a Japanese slang term that means what?

Answer: whiz-kid

In 1958, Akio Morita (1921-1999) and Masaru Ibuka (1908-1997) renamed their company from Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) to the Sony Corporation. At the time, the slang term "sonny-boy" implied a smart young man, a "whiz-kid," which is how they saw themselves and their company.

The term "sonny" was also used as a familiar term for a young boy in the Western culture of the 1950s, which (it was hoped) would make the company seem "friendlier" to the Western customers it hoped to attract.
7. The American media company Viacom gets its name by combining what words?

Answer: Visual & Audio Communications

Originally, Viacom began as CBS Films in 1952. When the Federal Communications Commission implemented the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules in 1970, television networks were not allowed to own syndication companies, CBS Films was spun off as its own company and named Viacom. Those rules were repealed in 1993, and in 1999 Viacom merged with its once-parent company CBS.

In 2005, Viacom and CBS split again, in order to resolve issues between top executives over the direction of the organization, creating two companies that would appeal to different types of investors (high cash/low growth vs. high growth).
8. If you know what the Mitsubishi logo looks like, you have an advantage in this question, since the meaning of "Mitsubishi" is reflected in the company logo. What does Mitsubishi mean?

Answer: three diamonds

Mitsubishi was founded in 1870 as a shipping company by Yatarô Iwasaki (1834-1885). "Mitsu" means "three" and "hishi" (or "bishi") means "water chestnut"/"water caltrop"/"rhombus"/"diamond" (as in a diamond shape, not the mineral or gemstone).
Bonus company name fact: the Japanese automobile company Subaru gets its name from the Japanese term for the Pleiades star cluster, and uses stars in its logo.
9. LG Corp. is a South Korean conglomerate company. What do the letters "LG" stand for?

Answer: Lucky Goldstar

In 1947, the Lak-Hui (pronounced "lucky") Chemical Industrial Corp. was founded by Koo In-Hwoi. When the company expanded into electronics, the GoldStar company was created to handle that new business venture. The two companies merged in 1958 to become Lucky GoldStar, which was changed in 1995 to LG.

The company has used "Life's Good" as a slogan, but the slogan came after the company was named.
10. In the 1980s the Hi-Toro company renamed itself Amiga, a word in Spanish/Portuguese that means what?

Answer: friend

Not only did the name "Amiga" make them sound more "user-friendly" (literally), it had the major advantage of appearing before rival companies Apple and Atari when listed alphabetically.
Bonus company name fact: Atari, founded in 1972, was named after a term from the board game Go.
Source: Author jcpetersen

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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