Why are we called ZYTRAX

(and how do you pronounce it?)

Have you ever tried to register a company name?

If you had you would also know why Yahoo is called Yahoo. The founders probably wanted to call it 'The Internet Search Company' or something equally boring but some fink in Tennis Shoes, Nebraska had already registered that name. Almost every sensible name you can think of (for sensible read boring) that remotely describes the business you are in was registered around the turn of the century - the turn of the 19th century that is.

Our investors, who were pushing to close the deal, said they needed a company name for all the legal stuff. After about 30 name check attempts (really) the specialist advice was "forget everything you ever thought about and start again - and by the way you have 30 minutes to do it!".

Rapid consultation of the Greek alphabet (when in doubt reach for an obscure language). Zy is a phonetic variant of chi (Ξ) - who knows what subterranean consciousness Trax came from. When told the new name for a search check, the specialist said "Forget it - tell your investors to go ahead - no-one will have that registered, no-one". There was also note of awe and bewilderment in the voice (and I think I caught the muttered sound of something that sounded like 'Bozo' but I may have been mistaken).

(One in a series of Mostly True Stories™)

How do pronounce ZyTrax? If you buy our products or services - any way you want.