Thiel actually explained this in a talk when I worked there. It comes from Lord of the Rings which Peter Thiel is very fond of. Apparently the Palantiri aren't inherently good or bad, it's just that power's impact reflects the people who use it. The ancient elves or wizards or whatever used them for good. But Sauron got his hands on one and used it for bad. The sinister potential was a deliberate choice, to remind people to be sure that power isn't abused. Actually kind of a good message for the tool Palantir builds, but probably not good for PR.

Also Thiel is very consistent on using Tolkien's pronunciation. It's not PA-lan-tir. Or Pa-LAN-tir. It's pa-lan-TIR with emphasis on the last syllable. There's actually a written accent in the books: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Palant%C3%ADri

Regardless everybody at the company sad PA-lan-tir.

Do you say that as somebody who doesn't actually know what they do? Because it's exactly what they do. You can only admire the honesty.

Knowing a little bit, but undoubtedly barely the tip of the iceberg of what they actually do, Palantir is a terrifying name.

The company lives up to its name, I promise.

JFC it just hit me that it's named after the seeing-stones in LOTR.

It's what they call crystal balls in Lord of the Rings

It only gets worse when you actually find out what they do.