If these products, people and bands had stayed with their original name, the world as we know it would be completely different. Here are a few things that started out with names that sound really strange today.
Buzz Lightyear was originally named “Lunar Larry.”
The Hawaiian Islands were called “The Sandwich Islands” by explorer James Cook, after the Earl of Sandwich.
Hannah Montana was originally called “Alexis Texas.”
The Powerpuff Girls were originally called “The Whoopass Girls.”
Ralph Lauren’s original name was Ralph Lifshitz. He changed it because he didn’t like the fact that his name had the word “shit” in it.
The Spice Girls were originally called “Touch.”
Bank of America was actually called “Bank of Italy” in the beginning. It was created by A.P. Giannini in the North Beach district of San Francisco and was meant for the Italian working class, but it expanded so he changed the name.
Coldplay was originally called “Starfish.”
Best Buy’s first name? “The Sound of Music.”
Pepsi was called “Brad’s Drink” when Caleb Bradham started selling it in his store. It was renamed after the word “dyspepsia,” (which means indigestion) because Bradham claimed it was healthy.
Clifford the Big Red Dog was first called “Tiny.”
Creed was originally called “Naked Toddler.”
Mickey Mouse’s original name was “Mortimer,” but Walt Disney’s wife hated it.
Candy corn was first called “Chicken feed.”
Hermione Granger was supposed to be “Hermione Puckle.”
Softball was called “kitten ball” when it originated.
Q-Tips were originally called “Baby Gays.” The “Q” was added to stand for quality.
Eggo Waffles were originally called “Froffles,” which was a combination of “frozen” and “waffles.” The customers started calling them “Eggos” because of their egg flavor and the rest is history.
Yahoo was “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web.” IT was really just a bunch of sites this guy named Jerry thought everyone should see.
Maroon 5 first went with the name “Kara’s Flowers.”
Cheerios were originally called “Cheerioats.”
“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck was originally called “Something That Happened.”
Pinecones were originally called “pine apples.” When explorers discovered pineapples in the Americas they called them “pineapples” because they looked like pine cones… “apple” was a word that was simply used to describe several fruits at the time.
Limp Bizkit thought it was a good idea to originally go with the name “Blood Fart.”
“Pretty Woman” was first called “3000.”
Aprons were first called “naprons.” It was changed to “apron” in the 17th century after people constantly misheard it.
Snapchat was first called “Pictaboo.”
Spongebob Squarepants started out at “Spongeboy,” but it was already copyrighted by a mop company.
Rudolph was first called Reginald.
The White House was once known as “The President’s Palace.”