Buzz
Adam Cheyer:
When we were forming Siri, we aimed to pick a name that was easy to recall, quick to type, simple to pronounce, and not overly familiar as a human name. Additionally, we hoped to secure the domain name at an affordable price.
As Siri emerged as the frontrunner, each team member developed their own interpretation of its meaning. Dag Kittlaus, our Norwegian-American CEO, even considered naming his daughter Siri, drawn to its Norse meaning: "beautiful woman who leads you to victory."
For me, Siri, which translates to "secret" in Swahili, was a nod to our early days when we were known as stealth-company.com. I also liked that it mirrored Iris, a software system I worked on during the CALO project, which Siri eventually evolved from. Some also appreciated the similarity to SRI, the research institute behind the CALO project.
We were aware that Siri meant "beauty" in Sinhalese, but we didn't realize that SHIRI could mean "butt" in Japanese (they're different words, but the pronunciations are very similar).
It was quite a surprise when Apple chose to keep the original Siri name for its official release with iOS. There were other top contenders right up until the final weeks.
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