Why is Bluetooth named after a Viking king?
A 10th-century Scandinavian king is the reason your headphones connect wirelessly.
The answer
Bluetooth technology is named after Harald 'Bluetooth' Gormsson, a 10th-century Viking king of Denmark who unified warring Scandinavian tribes - just as the technology was designed to unify communication between different devices. The Bluetooth logo is actually a bind rune combining the Old Norse initials H and B (Hagall and Bjarkan). The name was suggested by Intel engineer Jim Kardach in 1997 as a temporary codename while reading a novel about Viking history, but it stuck because no better alternative was found before launch.
Source: Bluetooth SIG
- Bluetooth
- wireless
- naming
- Vikings
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