IKEA and their product names
We don’t have to explain what IKEA is, do we? Right. Well, as exciting as one may think the story behind the name is, there’s actually no such thing. IKEA is a simple abbreviation of the founders’ initials I. K. (Ingvar Kamprad), with the combination of E (coming from Elmtaryd, the farm he was raised in) and A (after Agunnaryd, the small village close to his farm). A bit boring, I guess.
What is more interesting is where the weird names of all IKEA products come from. An article in Guardian from 2008 explains it all:
Because the company’s founder Kamprad is dyslexic, he thought that creating a naming system for the products would help remembering and differentiating them better than if they had letters and numbers attached as names. Since IKEA is a beloved place to buy home furnishings by people all over the world, this turned out not to be a bad idea at all.
If you’re wondering about the naming system, here it is:
Upholstered furniture (sofas, couches), rattan furniture, bookshelves, coffee tables, doorknobs, and media storage: Swedish place names
e.g. Kivik (sofas) – a locality in Skåne County, Sweden
Bookcases: occupations
e.g. Expedit – shop assistant/clerk
Hall furniture, beds, and wardrobes: Norwegian place names
e.g. Mandal (beds) – town and municipality in Norway
Dining tables and chairs: Finnish and Swedish place names
e.g. Bjursta (table) – village in Sweden
Carpets: Danish place names
e.g. Vemb (rug) – little town in Denmark
Bathroom storage and accessories: Scandinavian rivers, lakes, and bays
e.g. Limmaren (bathroom set bottles) – lake in Sweden
Desks and chairs: men’s names
e.g. Mike (desk) – short for Mikael, Swedish version for Michael
Fabrics, materials, and curtains: women’s names
e.g. Merete (curtains) – Nordic female name
Curtain accessories: mathematical and geometrical terms, various adjectives
e.g. Kvartal (curtain rails) – means quarterly in Swedish
Bed linen, covers, pillows, and cushions: plants, flowers, precious stones
e.g. Smörboll (duvet cover and pillowcases) – a globe-flower in Swedish
Lighting: music terms, seasons, months, days, chemistry, meteorology, measures, weights, boats, nautical terms
e.g. Årstid (wall lamp) – means season in Swedish
Kitchens: grammatical terms, but have exceptions
e.g. Rationell (cabinet system) – means rational in Swedish
Kitchen utensils: prominent foreign words, spices, herbs, mushrooms, fruits and berries, fish, and some functional descriptions
e.g. Koncis (garlic press) – concise
Children’s items: birds, mammals, various adjectives
e.g. Sniglar (bed frame) – means snails in Swedish
Wall decorations, clocks, boxes, pictures and frames: colloquial expressions, but also Swedish place names
e.g. Flärdfull (candle in glass) – means vanity in Swedish
So it turns out it’s quite easy to understand IKEA’s naming system…you just have to learn Swedish ;)
These rules are not 100% strict so don’t try to ambush us with examples : )
Just one negative thing about the naming process – it’s not uncommon that countries change names of specific products due to the names sounding similar to unacceptable words in those countries.
And last but not least, if you decide you’d enjoy learning Swedish through IKEA products, visit this website to play a cool guess-the-meaning-of-the-IKEA-product game : )
These are some really good ideas, something I love to explore, thanks for sharing :)