How did Siri get its name?

As a startup, when coming up with Siri's name, we wanted something that was easy to remember, short to type, comfortable to pronounce, and a not-too-common human name. And we wanted to be able to get the domain name for not too much money... ;-)

Once Siri became the leading candidate, everyone on the team had their own favorite explanation of the meaning. Dag Kittlaus, our Norwegian-American CEO, once considered using Siri as the name of his child, and liked the Norse meaning "beautiful woman who leads you to victory". For me, Siri, which means "secret" in Swahili, was a tip of the hat to our pre-named days when we began as stealth-company.com. I also liked the fact that it was the reverse of Iris, a software system I help build as part of the CALO project which Siri spun out of. Some liked the resemblance to SRI, which was the research institute that ran the CALO project. We knew about Siri = beauty in Sinhalese, but missed that SHIRI = "butt" in Japanese (they're not the same word, but closely pronounced...)


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And it was all a big surprise that Apple decided to keep the original Siri name for it's launch as part of iOS. There were other candidates that were leading up until the final weeks...


This information was taken from Quora. Click here to view the original post.

Did you know the history behind the Siri's name?

#Society #funny #Quora

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What are your thoughts on this subject?
20 Comments
lmoores
Siri is voiced by Aussie Karen Jacobson.
8
Oct 20, 2021 7:28PM
marymallinger
I like the name Siri
6
Jan 21, 2022 6:45PM
deborahpmercer
That was interesting! I actually know someone called Alexa, which is a pretty name but now potentially problematic!
5
Sep 22, 2020 3:35AM
Wayne Roberts
We named our Siamese cat Sirikit after the queen of Thailand, shortened to Siri.
0
Jul 13, 2023 8:31PM
lls
lls
deborahpmercer, ...we still named our new cat Alexa...it just fits.
1
Aug 15, 2022 7:50PM
Larry Paula Elliott
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s daughter’s name is Suri which I assume is pronounced the same as Siri.
4
May 7, 2022 12:53PM
lmoores
I knew about the Norwegian and Swahili.
3
Oct 20, 2021 7:27PM
Jim Mascair
I figured it was the reverse of Iris and a poke at the competition.
4
May 27, 2021 10:02PM
Malini Rao
In Kannada (South Indian language) Siri means wealth😊
4
Sep 17, 2020 7:23AM
enrique
Thanks for the explnation i love learning new things
4
Aug 26, 2020 11:23PM
DOSHog
Veronics Moss, I wonder why you wander!
0
Jul 26, 2020 4:24AM
Tina Marie Haddad Rhodes
Jim Adams, People should not speak about what they do not Know...🐪🐪🐪🐪
1
Mar 10, 2020 10:33AM
Hannah Fein
Thank you for the interesting information.
4
Feb 3, 2020 5:10PM
Keti Chubinidze
Actually it’s even worse in Georgian. But it’s impossible to please everyone :).
3
Jan 13, 2020 2:23PM
Sean Philips
Jim Adams, do some basic research before you comment, it’s got nothing to do with the Egyptian goddess. It’s an acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (or al-Sham).
1
Dec 25, 2019 8:02PM

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