Google (English)

Where does "Google" come from?

The English name 'Google' originated as an accidental misspelling of 'googol'[1], a term defined as one followed by a hundred zeros[1]. This earlier word 'googol' was coined in 1920 by nine year old Milton Sirotta, the nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, when asked to name the 100th power of ten[2]. The misspelling was adopted to allude to the site's purpose of providing easy access to vast amounts of information[1].

Full etymology tree

• Google (English), 'A particular Internet company.'
  • derived googol (English), 'The number 10¹⁰⁰, or ten to the power of a hundred. Equivalent to ten duotrigintillion (short scale), or ten sexdecilliard (long scale).'

Descendants and derived words

• de-Google (English)
• de-Googled (English)
• de-Googled (English)
• Doctor Google (English)
• Dr. Google (English)
• FAANG (English)
• FANG (English)
• FGI (English)
• FGI (English)
• GAFAM (English)
• GC (English)
• GC (English)

Sources

1. Google (English) - Wiktionary
2. googol (English) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris