Mobile
Why Siri is Called Siri
Ever wondered why the personal voice assistant on Apple’s iPhone 4S, Siri, is called Siri? Well, the company’s former CEO Dag Kittlaus has shed some light on the name and why that name was chosen for a product that eventually became one of the iPhone’s latest features. Siri is, in fact, not just some random jargon. Instead, it means “beautiful woman who leads you to victor” in the Norwegian language.
But there is more to the story.
Kittlaus offered up some of the back story on the world’s most well-known virtual assistant saying that the name derived from a lady that he once used to work with and that he had, at one time, thought about naming his daughter Siri.
Read: iPhone 4S Review.
He also stated that the website domain was also available and that consumers want a name that’s easy to say and spell, two items that make sense, but don’t exactly fit in with the rest of the romanticism behind the naming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5ba0tZ_P5cg
And while Kittlaus was a fan of the name, there was one person that wasn’t.
Steve Jobs.
Jobs apparently wasn’t sold on the name Siri when Apple acquired the company for $200 million. Kittlaus tried to persuade Jobs about the name but apparently, the CEO never really bought into the name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rNsrl86inpo
However, that’s the name that stuck and so far, so good, it seems.
Apple has gone on to sell millions upon millions of iPhone 4S’ around the world, a survey has said that 87 percent of iPhone users use at least one Siri feature per month and the name ‘Siri’ has become a household name.
Via: NetworkWorld
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03/28/2012 at 10:30 am
Many thanks for such a write-up.
milli
11/15/2012 at 1:42 pm
thankyou brilliant!
Didrick Namtvedt (@ItsDidrick)
12/07/2012 at 2:49 pm
Seeing as Siri is a Norwegian female name, it is natural that Norwegian would be one of the included languages that Siri can speak. Hopefully it will at some point, as many more of us Norwegians can get use of her.
lesley
08/09/2013 at 12:53 pm
my son has another theory. siri is iris spelt backward. iris is part of your eye. IPHONE!!!!
ken osborn
01/16/2014 at 8:54 am
@lesley – you have an insightful son and Siri is a lot easier to pronounce than Enohpi!
sandro
06/22/2014 at 11:59 pm
Siri means dick on georgian laguage no jore
siiri2
08/22/2015 at 8:45 am
Being a person named Siiri (different spelling, same pronunciation), it was absolutely surreal to hear the first few Siri television advertisements. Why was Samuel Jackson saying my name?! This was made more bizarre by the fact that I had no idea what he was talking about.
Terry Jones
08/29/2015 at 10:42 pm
‘Siri’ is also Swahili for ‘secret’.
Dom
09/18/2015 at 4:32 pm
It means crab in portuguese.