List of company name etymologies
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
I/O Mega (input/output...mega)
Iω (I-omega -- the product of the moment of inertia with angular velocity -- resulting in angular momentum)
edit: Ah nevermind, re-reading the lexus wiki page states that:
The etymology of the Lexus name has been attributed to the combination of the words "luxury" and "elegance," and another theory claims it is an acronym for "luxury exports to the U.S." According to Team One interviews, the brand name has no specific meaning and simply denotes a luxurious and technological image.
Six Apart – company co-founders Ben and Mena Trott were born six days apart
Good: It's less ego-centric. Bad: It's more idea-centric.
I mean, the YC mantra is that founders matter most, no?
Naming an enterprise for the founder/founders helps wire in more of the critical DNA, but in a way which doesn't tie you to a specific product or service. It's tricky to do this with a more generic name. This gives both an anchoring identity and flexibility to grow. It tends to imply a long-term view by the founders as well: why attach your name to something for which you've got an explicit exit strategy?
By way of counter-examples, "IBM" (International Business Machines) turns out to be a really good, generic, but still applicable and adaptable, name. "Apple" has worked fairly well. "Xerox" is tied to a specific duplication method. "Polaroid" grew and died with a specific photographic process (though "Land" doesn't seem to have helped much in this case).
From recent tech memory, "VA Research" (later "VA Linux") was named for its cofounders.
Pyrex == latin pyro + rex == fire king.