Ever wonder where companies got the brilliant names for products like Barbie, Milk Duds, and Grape Nuts? Their branding was so successful the names are now household words, but many companies named their products almost carelessly. Ask for It by Name tracks these brandnames’ histories, and comes up with some surprising results.  

Formica? Named after mica, a common electrical insulator, which it was meant to replace. Countertops weren’t even in the picture. Häagen-Dazs? It’s just faux-Nordic nonsense, and means nothing in any known language. Motorola? A combination of motor and -ola, as in victr-ola. It originally referred to car stereos, not cell phones.