The search for a unique name
The story behind our name begins in the early 2000s. Many CMS companies at that time either had ‘web’ or ‘site’ in their name. Umbraco Founder, Niels Hartvig, however, wanted something a bit more unique.
He wanted to create a name that could be a metaphor for what he wanted Umbraco to enable people to do.
One thing Niels wasn’t good at, at the time, was assembling and building things. And yet he had managed to assemble several pieces of furniture from IKEA using nothing but his own skills and an Allen key - a tool we in Denmark call an ‘Umbraconøgle” ...or do we? 🤔
Named after a well-known tool
So Niels thought, "why not call the company Umbraco?"
A name that marks Umbraco as being a simple tool that will enable you to build marvellous solutions for your clients.
A tool that’s supposed to build your confidence and make you believe in your own ability to build things. A tool that enables you to do a lot more than you think you can.
After a quick search on Google, Niels decided to get the trademark, and that’s how the name was chosen - which also explains why Umbraco’s first logo consisted of hexagons which is the iconic shape of the Allen key (or Hex Key).
... but Umbraco is, in fact, a spelling mistake
What most Danes don’t know though, is that the tool is spelt ‘Unbrako-nøgle’ - an abbreviation for ‘unbreakable’ and a name that was already trademarked. Which means that "Umbraco" is actually a spelling mistake… or at least in Denmark 😆
Sometimes, to this day, we still get people who request Allen keys from us.
And while we can’t help you assemble your next IKEA furniture, we can help you make your journey in building digital solutions a little bit simpler 😉