16 abbreviated company names explained

Dozens of companies use acronyms or initials in their names, but what do the abbreviations mean?

1. CVS Sorry, drugstore fans, there aren't three fatcat pharmacists with these initials running around out there. When the pharmacy chain was founded in Lowell, Mass., in 1963, it was known as Consumer Value Stores. Over time the name became abbreviated to simply CVS.

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2. Kmart Longtime five-and-dime mogul Sebastian S. Kresge opened his first larger store in Garden City, Mich., in 1962. The store was named Kmart after him. Kresge had earned the right to have a store named for him; he opened up his new venture at the tender age of 94.

3. IKEA The Swedish furniture giant and noted charity takes its name from found Ingvar Kamprad's initials conjoined with a the first initial of the farm where Kamprad grew up, Elmtaryd, and the parish he calls home, Agunnaryd.

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4. JBL The speaker company is named after its founder, James Bullough Lansing. But if Lansing had kept his original name, the company might have been called Martini Speakers. Lansing was born James Martini in 1902, but when he was 25, he changed his name to James Lansing at the suggestion of the woman who would become his wife. (The martini was already a popular cocktail at the time, and several of Lansing's brothers had also changed their name by shortening it to Martin.)

5. BVD The stalwart men's underwear maker was originally founded by a group of New Yorkers named Bradley, Voorhees, and Day to make women's bustles. Eventually the trio branched out into knitted union suits for men, and their wares became so popular that "BVDs" has become a generic term for any underwear.

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16 abbreviated company names explained