1) The Name Google Does Not Mean Anything
Your search engine has become an indispensable part of your life, but do you know everything there is to know about Google? There are some fun facts that many people don’t know about Google’s history and its various features, but today we’re going to focus on some of the lesser-known factoids about Google you probably didn’t know before. Check out these 10 interesting Google facts that might surprise you!
1) The Name Google Does Not Mean Anything
Believe it or not, Google does not mean anything. Yes, you read that correctly. According to a post by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin on their official site: We considered Googol (the number one followed by a hundred zeros), which we liked because it was reminiscent of our goal for our search engine - to organize as much information in the world as possible. And we wanted something short and memorable, like Yahoo! and AOL!
2) Larry Page Wanted to Give a Cute Catchy Nickname, but Couldn't Think of One
The search engine that you know today as Google was once known as BackRub, which comes from an algorithm called PageRank. Larry Page, one of its co-founders, wanted to give it a cute and catchy nickname. However, he apparently couldn't think of anything clever so he decided to go with a mundane name instead: Google.
3) The First Ever Google Doodle Was Celebrating Burning Man
In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were two Stanford Ph.D. students who created a website that would change your life as you know it: Google. The word google is actually derived from their original name for the site, BackRub. As of 2014, one billion searches are made daily on Google.
4) Every Weekday Has Its Own Google Doodle
Did you know that every weekday has its own unique doodle? Yeah, I didn’t. And if I did, I wouldn’t have believed it. But it’s true! Well, almost true—I guess one day a week doesn’t actually have a google doodle, but still—what?! Did you also know that there are over 700 Googlers on staff to come up with these doodles? Does that seem like a lot? Because it is.
5) A Different Person Doodles Every Day
If you’ve ever wondered who it is that creates those illustrations for Google Doodles, here’s a little secret: It’s no one person. Rather, a small team of illustrators at different companies throughout various parts of the world are contracted to create them each day.
6) There Are Over 600 Doodle Submissions Waiting for Review
If you’re dying to see your artwork featured in a Google Doodle, you might want to wait at least several weeks before submitting another. The team reviewing submissions hasn’t gotten any bigger since 2009; it’s still just one person. However, there are a ton of submissions waiting to be reviewed—over 600 at last count. So, if you have something awesome to submit, make sure it stands out because there are lots of other people trying to get their doodles seen too.
7) Once Upon a Time, Doodles Were Made by Hand
When Google was first founded, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin had a bit of an identity crisis: they wanted their company’s logo to be colorful and abstract, but they also didn’t want to pay for a graphic designer. To solve their dilemma, they turned to company employee...Aaron Swartz. Using Microsoft Paint, Aaron drew what would eventually become known as the google doodle. (Source)
8) The Very First Doodle Only Had Links to the Homepage and Gmail
When Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched their new search engine in 1997, they were so excited that they made a drawing to show how happy they were. This was called a doodle for fun and it only had links to two pages: The homepage and Gmail. Since then, these doodles have gotten more creative but will always remain important reminders of what a big deal Google is. Check out our list of 10 interesting facts about Google that you might not know!
9) 1 in 12 Googlers Are Artists Who Design Doodles
When you’re building a search engine, it helps to have an artist or two on staff. So in 2000, Larry Page brought an artist named Dennis Hwang onto his small team of engineers. Five years later, in 2005, he did it again—this time bringing in an illustrator named Ryan Germick. Since then both Hwang and Germick have recruited many artists to join them at Google—and they’ve created some of the most famous visual elements of our time: The Chrome icon.
10) The Oldest Doodle Is from 1998 (MSN Search Logo)
In 1998, if you looked at MSN’s search engine logo, it would have shown a stick figure doodle instead of today’s logo. Although we can only see drawings from 1998 and after now, it’s still quite fun to see what these doodles looked like! Some of these drawls include images of ninjas, koalas wearing hats and pirate skeletons. There are more interesting facts about Google out there! What is your favorite fact about Google?