Most customers are unaware of IKEA‘s 12000 product names’ precise internal logic, which provides a window into Swedish society: the company employs a talented group of product namers who choose names from a database of Swedish terms. The names of bookcases are either boy’s names (the bestselling ‘Billy’ bookcase is named after IKEA employee Billy Likjedhal) or professions (‘Expedit’ meaning shopkeeper). Outdoor furniture is named after Scandinavian islands (Äpplarö is an island in the Stockholm archipelago and Västerön is in Åland). Bed sheets, comforters, and pillowcases are given the names of flowers and plants, while rugs are given the names of cities and towns in Sweden or Denmark (Ådum, Stockholm, Silkeborg). Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, came up with the guidelines for naming because he had problems recalling the sequence of numbers in item IDs due to his dyslexia. IKEA itself stands for Ingvar, Kamprad, Elmtaryd, which is the name of his family’s farm, and Agunnaryd (the village in Småland where he was raised). IKEA utilizes the same brand for its products in all of its markets to streamline inventories for its hundreds of locations across the world. The database is regularly checked for words that may have offensive meanings in other languages but sometimes things slip under the radar: in the annals of unfortunate IKEA product names, 2004’s ‘Fartfull’ children’s workbench probably deserves the uncontested first place. Designers occasionally get to suggest original titles for their works, but the naming committee often follows a predetermined scheme. There are some exceptions: for example, some products have names that allude to their function, as in the case of the ‘Sladda’ bicycle (‘sladda’ translates to ‘skid’ in Swedish).

Here follow a few rules:

Bathroom articles = Names of Swedish lakes and bodies of water

Bed textiles = Flowers and plants

Beds, wardrobes, hall furniture = Norwegian place names

Bookcases = Professions, Scandinavian boy’s names

Bowls, vases, candle and candle holders = Swedish place names, adjectives, spices, herbs, fruits and berries

Boxes, wall decoration, pictures and frames, clocks = Swedish slang expressions, Swedish place names

Children’s products = Mammals, birds, adjectives

Desks, chairs and swivel chairs = Scandinavian boy’s names

Fabrics, curtains = Scandinavian girl’s names

Garden furniture = Scandinavian islands

Kitchen accessories = Fish, mushrooms and adjectives

Lighting = Units of measurement, seasons, months, days, shipping and nautical terms, Swedish place names

Rugs = Danish place names

Sofas, armchairs, chairs and dining tables = Swedish place names

Curiosity: Lars Petrus compiled a (helpful, although incomplete) Swedish-to-English dictionary of IKEA product names

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