When considering eBay, the logical thought is that the 鈥渆鈥� stands for 鈥渆lectronic鈥� 鈥� after all, eBay was one of the first popular websites of the Internet revolution, a time when adding 鈥渆鈥� in front of a word gave it an innovative connotation.
But the meaning of eBay鈥檚 name is actually derived from something decidedly un-digital. The website started out as 鈥淎uctionWeb,鈥� a part of the personal website of former Apple software engineer Pierre Omidyar. The website took off, and Mr. Omidyar decided to spin it off into its own entity and his consulting firm, Echo Bay Technology Group. When the domain name echobay.com was taken, he switched it to ebay.com.
