How ‘Google’ got its name – An interesting ‘theoretical story’ you might have never heard before!

Google is by far the most popular search engine in the world. They have been other search engines that existed and the new ones keeps on coming and some of them even try to imitate Google, but none of them comes any closer to the kind of results that Google gives. Whether you want to search for your favorite Michael Jackson song or you are looking for best sites for online casino bonus, people prefer to simply go to Google because they are confident that they will get what they are looking for.

This believe of Google has taken years to build up. As every success story is associated with lots of hype and interesting anecdotes, same is the case with Google. There is one of the most interesting anecdote about the how Google got its name. Although this story is unverified, yet it is quite interesting and worth knowing!

How Google got its name?

Most of the people are aware about the popular story behind how Google got its name. Google was earlier known as Backrub but Larry and Sergey finally found a more suitable name for their dream project and named it Google, which has a close resemblance to word ‘Googol’, representing the infinite possibility and potential of the project.

However, not many people are aware of an interesting theory behind the name of the most popular search engine of the world. In fact, more than a theory, it sounds more like those fun stories, that people like to circulate on internet, hoping it would become a viral content or may be for sheer pass time… Anyways, here goes the story…

The Google Story

It so happened that Larry and Sergey were searching for someone who could finance their dream project which was then named as BackRub. They even found some biggies who showed interest in their project but somehow, things were not working out the way exactly as per their plan.

One day they heard that there is a NRI named R.S. Dillon who has got real big bucks with him and he is also always looking for interesting IT project to invest in. However, he was infamous for really stinky sense of humor, which goes at its worst, when he was on an overdose (drank too much). The bad news was it was hard to find him sober! However, if word of mouth was to be believed, then there were hundreds of people who would vouch for the fact that they were able to get their project financed by Mr. Dillon during those overdosed happy hours!

Q: “Kee Gal Hai?” A: “ Goo Gal Hai!”

So, Larry and Sergey had a challenge at their hands! All they had to do was to trace Mr. Dillon at the right time (read drink in his hands) and try their luck out! They even learned to greet him in his mother tongue Punjabi – “Kee gal hai?” (“How are you?).

It didn’t took   them long to try out their luck. One fine evening, Mr. Dillon was traced in a bar and looked in full form. He was speaking with a fellow NRI in Punjabi and our Google chaps could smell the opportunity knocking their door! They  gently moved towards Mr. Dillon and greeted him with their best Punjabi accent – “Kee gal hai?”.

Mr. Dillon was not sober either, prompt came the reply,” Goo gal hai” (Goo = Sh*t, gal = talk), indicating, that he was talking sh*t and he didn’t liked their interference. Sergey and Larry were not proficient in Punjabi and they understandably took it as a compliment!

As luck could have it, the trio got tuned with each other and their friendship blossomed. This introduction became their trademark greeting. Every time the trio met, the duo greeted Mr. Dillon with “Kee gal hai?” to which Mr. Dillon promptly replied “Goo gal hai!”

From BackRub, to Googol and from GooGal to Google!

One day, when the duo finally narrated their project details to Mr. Dillon and asked his opinion about it, the first question that Mr. Dillon inquired was “What do you plan to call your search engine?” As the duo saw it as a project with infinite possibilities, they suggested the name Googol for it. Mr. Dillon, known for his infamous humor was quick to ‘correct’ them, “ It shouldn’t be Googol, it rather be Goo gal!”

The duo, still aware of the brutal humor content of the phase nodded in agreement. After that meeting, every time, the trio meet and discussed this project, Mr. Dillon jollily asked the duo about the name of their dream project, to which the duo used to reply with equal passion “ It’s Goo gal !”

It is said that later on, when Larry and Sergey were trying to register domain for their dream project, they could neither get Googol, nor GooGal. Hence, they tried Google, which is pronounced in the same way as Goo Gal and found that it was available! They cheerfully registered the domain and found a loyal financer named Mr. Dillon!

It is said that the innocent duo is still unaware of the prank of lifetime which Mr. Dillon played on them. As far as the authenticity of this story is concerned, well, only Larry and Sergey could confirm that!

All said and done!

As stated earlier, this story is unverified and hence its authenticity cannot be verified. In this world of viral marketing, people often create stories for fun or some other subtle purpose and so we can never know if this one too is an outcome of a creative/mischievous mind. However, it is a good past time to read and a good theory to consider. Even the theory of evolution has a story and we believe it, so there looks no harm in believing in this one either… it looks quite convincing, isn’t it? Let me know what do you think about it. Please feel free to leave a comment!

Rate this post