Most technology is referred to by an acronym such as ISP (internet service provider) and VPS (virtual private server) or named for something pretty obvious like WIFI is short for wireless fidelity. But Bluetooth, where did that come from? It doesn’t fit the trend.
Way back in 1996, Intel, Ericsson and Nokia, considered industry leaders at the time, got together to plan how to standardize short-range radio technology for wireless collaboration and connectivity for a range of products. In this meeting, the Intel representative, Jim Kardach, suggested they temporarily call the project by the code name Bluetooth, after King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson from the 900s. (Yes, that is correct, not the 1900s, but the 900s.) King Gormsson was famous for uniting Denmark and Norway in 958, in the same vein as the team planned to unite the cellular and PC industries with this short-range wireless tool. He was also known for having a dark blue dead tooth, which earned him the unusual nickname.
The original plan was to have their marketing teams come up with something memorable and catchy to replace Bluetooth once they finalized the technology. However, when it came time to launch, the names they planned to use had been taken by others, and they ran out of time to come up with something else. So, they created a logo using the runes for Hagall and Bjarkan, King Gormsson’s initials, and the rest is history.
