How was bluetooth named

Why Is Bluetooth Called “Bluetooth”? How Did It Get Its Name And Logo?

Short Bytes: Do you know that Bluetooth got its name and logo from a Scandinavian king named Harald Gormsson? He was nicknamed Bluetooth due to his dead tooth that looked blue. Special Interest Group (SIG), which was responsible for developing a common radio communication standard, decided to adopt this name. This decision was made because the king united Scandinavia, just like SIG “intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link.”

T here are tons of stories how some of the world’s biggest companies and brands got their name. In the past, we’ve told you why Windows was named Windows. Or, more interestingly, why is JavaScript has the word Java in it. Today, I’m going to tell you the story behind the name of one more interesting technology — Bluetooth.

Bluetooth is a low-cost radio communication technology that allows short distance wireless networking between phones, computers, and other electronic devices. It was designed to support the networking of portable devices that are powered by batteries. A Bluetooth device makes use of radio waves and a Bluetooth product contains a small chip with a radio and software. When a network is established between different Bluetooth devices, one device acts as a master while others act as slaves.

Recommended: Bluetooth 5 Launched, Brings 2x Speed And 4x Range

But, how did Bluetooth get its uber-cool name?

History of Bluetooth and its name

I don’t think I’d be wrong to assume that you haven’t spent much time looking for the answer to this question. Some of you might be knowing that Bluetooth’s name has something to with a medieval Scandinavian king whose nickname was blátǫnn in Old Norse or Blåtand in Danish. These words mean Bluetooth–no cookies for guessing. The king was named Bluetooth as he had a dead tooth that looked blue.

But, why was this particular mid-90’s king’s name was chosen? What does his tooth have to do with a wireless technology standard?

In 1996, the companies like Intel, Nokia, and Ericsson were developing short-range radio technologies. Intel was working on a program called Business-RF; Ericsson was working on MC-Link; Nokia was working on Low Power RF. It was evident that having a single short-range standard would be much better than having 3 or more competing standards. So, these interested parties got together and created the Special Interest Group (SIG) for developing a common standard.

In the summer of 1997, Intel’s Jim Kardach went to a pub with Ericsson’s Sven Mattisson. There, they started talking about history and Mattisson mentioned a book he had recently finished reading. The book was called The Longships, and it was about the reign of Danish King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson. After this meeting, Kardach went home and read a book named The Vikings. In that book, he learned more about the king Bluetooth and how he united Scandinavia.

Later, he proposed that SIG should be called by the codenamed Bluetooth. “Bluetooth was borrowed from the 10th century, second King of Denmark, King Harald Bluetooth; who was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link,” he wrote in a column a decade later.

The codename Bluetooth was an instant hit in the marketing group and it was never changed.

What’s the story of Bluetooth’s logo?

Well, as one might expect, the team again looked at its Nordic origins. The iconic Bluetooth logo is a combination of King Bluetooth’s initials (Hagall (ᚼ) and Bjarkan (ᛒ)) in The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes. It’s a runic alphabet in use from the 9th century.

I hope that you found the story of Bluetooth’s name and logo interesting. Don’t forget to share your views with us.

Also Read: Where Did Microsoft Windows Get Its Name From?

Adarsh Verma

Fossbytes co-founder and an aspiring entrepreneur who keeps a close eye on open source, tech giants, and security. Get in touch with him by sending an email — [email protected]

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Why is Bluetooth called Bluetooth?

Have you ever wondered where the name Bluetooth came from? And why does it have that strange logo, and what does all this even have to do with the Viking age anyway? That is exactly what I will answer in this article.

Where does the phrase Bluetooth come from?

Okay, let me start by explaining what Bluetooth is and how it got its name. In 1996 many tech companies were working on a new technology called short-range radio links. But the problem was that they all had created their own standard for it, for example, Intel called it Business-RF and Ericsson called it MC-Link.

The companies realized that they needed to work together and create a single short-range radio standard, instead of having multiple competing standards. So the companies created a Special Interest Group (SIG) and held a meeting in Lund, at the Ericsson plant in Sweden. Here the companies came to an agreement on working together and the Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed.

An employee from Intel proposed that the technology should be given the codename Bluetooth, until SIG’s marketing group, came up with a better name for the technology. The history of the word Bluetooth has its roots in the Viking Age, and Jim Kardach from Intel got the idea from the book the Longships by Frans G. Bengtsson and The Vikings by Gwyn Jones.

Why was Bluetooth invented?

This technology was invented so devices would be able to exchange data wirelessly between them, which would end up paving the way for many of the modern devices we use today on a daily basis.

When did Bluetooth get released?

In 1999 the Bluetooth 1.0 Specification was released, and already the following year, the first devises using this technology were being sold in the stores. Some of the first devices that used Bluetooth were mobile phones, PC cards, computer mouses, laptops, and headsets.

Who was Harald Bluetooth?

But who was this Bluetooth? Well, Bluetooth was the nickname of a Danish King named Harald Gormsson who lived in the middle of the 10 century in Denmark. He is credited to be the one who unified the Danes into one Kingdom and made them Christians, which can be seen on the Jelling stone.

Why was he called Bluetooth?

There are many rumors and speculations about why Harald was given the nickname Bluetooth. Some people claim it was because he had a bad tooth, others say he loved to eat blueberries or licorice. It might come as a surprise to you, but none of those statements are actually true. In fact, we do not know how Harald Bluetooth got his nickname, but we have sources that mention him by that name.

The first mention of Harald Bluetooth is in the 11 century about 200 years after his death. In the Roskilde Chronicle (In Danish Roskildekrøniken) written by an unknown author. It was the first attempt at writing down the history of Denmark, from 826 to 1157.

It was originally written down in Latin (Chronicon Roskildense), but it was later translated into other languages such as English and Danish. The original manuscript has been lost and the Roskilde Chronicle now only exists in copies. It is highly likely that the Roskilde Chronicle was written by a Monk since it was written in Latin.

However Harald could have had the nickname Bluetooth, and maybe that is how the people referred to him, went they sat at night telling stories about the great Kings of Denmark. The name probably survived in oral history, before it was written down centuries later.

Where does the Bluetooth symbol come from?

The Bluetooth symbol has just as its name its roots in the Viking age. The Bluetooth symbol/logo is a combination of two runes from the younger futhark, which was the runic alphabet that the Vikings used in the Viking age.

They used the initials of Harald Bluetooth, to create what is called a bindrune, by merging his two initials together. The new rune (bind rune) consists of the letter H (ᚼ) and the letter B (ᛒ). ᚼ is known as the hagall rune, and ᛒ is the bjarkan rune. Creating a bind rune was something that was practiced in the Viking age, but it was very rare.

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Origin of the Bluetooth Name

We all recognize the “Bluetooth” brand, but we take for granted its significance and how much it impacts our lives. From smartphones to headphones and beyond, we rely on Bluetooth technology to free us from the tether of wired tech.

For how innovative the technology, the name doesn’t sound techie. It’s not an acronym and doesn’t stand for anything. So what does it mean?

Surprisingly, the name dates back more than a millennia to King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson who was well known for two things:

• Uniting Denmark and Norway in 958.
• His dead tooth, which was a dark blue/grey color, and earned him the nickname Bluetooth.

In 1996, three industry leaders, Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia, met to plan the standardization of this short-range radio technology to support connectivity and collaboration between different products and industries.

During this meeting, Jim Kardach from Intel suggested Bluetooth as a temporary code name. Kardach was later quoted as saying, “King Harald Bluetooth…was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link.”

Bluetooth was only intended as a placeholder until marketing could come up with something really cool.

Later, when it came time to select a serious name, Bluetooth was to be replaced with either RadioWire or PAN (Personal Area Networking). PAN was the front runner, but an exhaustive search discovered it already had tens of thousands of hits throughout the internet.

A full trademark search on RadioWire couldn’t be completed in time for launch, making Bluetooth the only choice. The name caught on fast and before it could be changed, it spread throughout the industry, becoming synonymous with short-range wireless technology.

The ‘initial’ Bluetooth Logo

The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging the Younger Futhark runes (Hagall) (ᚼ) and (Bjarkan) (ᛒ), Harald’s initials.

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