What was the story behind the well-known (and well-used) Bluetooth logo? At first glance, it just seems like a fancy or creative way to use ‘B’ as a logo. However, the story behind Bluetooth's name and logo is actually interesting! The name ‘bluetooth’ belongs to a Viking-era king with a bad tooth, and the logo the engineers that developed Bluetooth used is hiding a secret message:
Engineers Sven Mattisson Jim Kardach were working on the technology in the late 1990s when they realised it needed a catchy name to make it stand out from the confusing plethora of wireless tech being developed at the time. And the concept of 'Bluetooth' was, like all the best ideas, devised over a beer.
According to France24, the two men began discussing history while drowning their sorrows after a disappointing pitch. They "talked at length" about Vikings, including the king of Denmark, Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson – a name said to refer to his dead tooth.
The king is most famous for uniting Norway and Denmark, a parallel which delighted Mattisson and Kardach who were "seeking to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link" (which is, of course, exactly the same as bringing warring nations together).
But it isn't just the name that has a surprising history – the Bluetooth logo is also hiding a secret. It turns out the design actually contains two letters, rather than just a slightly insect-like B. What you're actually looking at is a superimposition of the Nordic runes for the letters H and B (below), for 'Harald Bluetooth'.
Image via CreativeBloq
It even hides a little 'x' that is highlighted (or used to be in earlier MacOS !) so when it was disconnected, the other areas were gray, with just the little X in the middle standing out, indicating a lack of connection! Delights me to this day.
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