BackRub公司更名谷歌（1997年）

    很多人会惊讶地发现谷歌公司（Google）初创时并不叫Google。1996年，公司创始人拉里•佩奇和谢尔盖•布林给他们研发的第一个搜索引擎起名Backrub（后背按摩——译注）。一年后，BackRub规模发展起来，斯坦福大学服务器已经无法容纳他们的网站了，于是两人注册域名Google.com。

    搜索引擎市场咨询师戴维•米姆表示，谷歌公司凭借自己的势力将名字变成一个动词——例如“让我们谷歌一下吧”（Google it）——帮助公司大获全胜。

    他补充说：“如果他们还坚持用BackRub这个名字的话，我能想像出，大家现在会说‘哦，你只要“按摩一下”（Rub it）就好了’，但是效果恐怕不会有那么好。”

BackRub to Google (1997)

    It may surprise some to know that when Google first began, it wasn't even called Google. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin named their first search engine BackRub in 1996. A year later, BackRub became too large to operate on the Stanford University servers that hosted the website so they registered the domain name Google.com.

    Google's ability to turn its title into a verb -- as in, "Google it" -- helped the company succeed tremendously, said search marketing consultant David Mihm.

    "Had they stuck with BackRub, I can imagine "Oh, you should just 'Rub it" might have developed, but that doesn't have quite the same ring to it," he added.