Google was once named "BackRub".

Creators Larry Page and Sergey Brin met while at Stanford University and collaborated on a web search engine called "BackRub." Over time, the engine became too large for the university's servers and the pair decided it was time for a name change. They eventually came up with the name "Google," which was based on the word "googol" - a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros! They believed this word encapsulated their goal of organizing the limitless amounts of information stored across the World Wide Web.