Today there are more than 2000 stores Zara in 96 countries around the world, as well as at least 500 other Zara houses. The label of the Spanish chain is instantly recognizable all over the world. Few people know that the first Zara store will be called Zorba. If these thousands of signs on the most shopping streets in the world today do not write the name of his hero Kazantzakis, belongs to a Spaniard who “managed” to name his bar that way almost 50 years ago. In addition, many of the most famous brands of the world today hide stories that are often unknown to their millions of customers.

The first Zara store was supposed to be called Zorba, but the bar got ahead of the specific name.

Zara

Amantio Ortega originally intended to name his company Zorba, inspired by the 1964 film. “Zorba the Greek”. However, when he was preparing to open his first store in A Coruña in 1975, he discovered that there was a bar nearby called Zorba. Since Ortega had already commissioned the letters for the sign, he tried to find a name that at least some of them could be used with. Thus Zara was born.

Adidas

While urban legend has it that the name Adidas comes from the initials of the words “All day I dream about sports,” the reality is different. The sporting goods company was founded in 1949 in Germany by Adolf Dassler. The name of the company comes from his favorite name (Andy) and the first letters of his last name.

Amazon

OUR Jeff Bezos founded his online bookstore in 1994 in the garage of his Washington DC home. He originally wanted to name it Kadabra, after the magic word abracadabra. But when he discovered that many people heard “corpse” when he said the name over the phone, he ended up in the Amazon, drawing inspiration from the world’s largest river.

Starbucks

Gordon Bowker wanted to give his company a name that starts with “st” because he believed these brands had great power. When searching for words from “st” he found an old American city called Starbo, the story of Moby Dick immediately came to mind. Starbucks was named after Lt. Pequod.

Gap

In California, when the hippie movement was at its peak, Don Fisher saw a gap in the market as he couldn’t find a pair of jeans that fit him. Gap wanted to fill this gap while also appealing to a younger audience with a “generation gap” inspired title.

eBay

Iranian-American businessman Pierre Omidyar founded AuctionWeb in 1995 to sell things online. Two years later, he decided to change his company’s name to Echo Bay because he thought it sounded cool. However, a Canadian gold mining company was already using the brand, so Omidya ended up on eBay.