List of Company Name Etymologies - W

W

• Wachovia – from the Latin version of the German wachau, the name given to a region in North Carolina by German settlers because it reminded them of a river near their home in Germany. Many companies founded in or around Charlotte, North Carolina have Wachovia in their name.
• Waitrose – upmarket UK supermarket chain originally named after the founders, Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. The Taylor was later dropped.
• Walgreens – named after founder Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.
• Wal-Mart – named after founder Sam Walton
• Wang Laboratories – from the name of the founder, An Wang, the inventor of core memory.
• Wells Fargo – From the founders of the original Wells Fargo company, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo. (When Norwest purchased Wells Fargo in 1998, it chose to retain the Wells Fargo name.)
• Wendy's – Wendy was the nickname of founder Dave Thomas' daughter Melinda.
• Weta Digital – special effects company co-founded by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. 'Weta' are a group of about 70 species of insect found in New Zealand, where Weta Digital is based.
• W H Smith – founded by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in London, England, in 1792. They named their small newsagent's shop after their son William Henry Smith, who was born the same year.
• Williams-Sonoma – founded by Chuck Williams in Sonoma, California.
• Wipro – from Western India Palm Refined Oil Ltd Wipro Technologies. The company started as a modest Vanaspati and laundry soap producer and is now also an IT services giant.
• Wonderware – Wonderware was the project code name for the company prior to its launch. Upon making the company a legal entity, the code name was retained as the company name.
• Worlds of Wonder – founder Don Kingsborough wanted an eyecatching stock symbol, and Worlds Of Wonder provided WOW. The company went bankrupt in 1988.
• WPP – global advertising and marketing company founded by Martin Sorrell in 1985. He bought an existing listed company, Wire & Plastic Products PLC, to use as a shell.
• WWE – From the company's legal name of World Wrestling Entertainment, adopted in 2002; it began using the initialism as its trading name in 2011. The previous name of World Wrestling Federation (WWF), used since 1979, was changed after a court case brought by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is now called the World Wide Fund for Nature.