History of Product Names & Trademarks: Kodak Camera

About the history and origins of famous product names and trademarks, in this case Kodak Camera.

KODAK George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera, once said, "A trademark should be short, vigorous, incapable of being misspelled to an extent that will destroy its identity; and-in order to satisfy trademark laws-it must mean nothing." Eastman liked the letter "K"-a "strong, incisive sort of letter." Thus, he decided that "K" would be the 1st letter of the camera trademark. He then shuffled vowels and consonants around until he came up with a proper sounding name, "Kodak."