According to Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus, Steve Jobs wasn’t a big fan of the name Siri. Speaking at Technori Pitch, a monthly event for Chicago based start-ups, Kittlaus also explained how he came up with the Siri name.
Yoni Heisler, iOnApple:
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending Technori Pitch, a monthly event where Chicago-based start-ups can showcase what they’ve been working on. The keynote speaker for the evening was none other than Dag Kittlaus, one of the co-founders of Siri. Apple acquired Siri for $200 million in April of 2010 and would go onto make it the flagship feature on the iPhone 4S.
During his keynote, Kittlaus talked about the history of the Siri name.
“So, Siri means in Norwegian, “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”. I worked with a lady named Siri in Norway and wanted to name my daughter Siri and the domain was available. And also consumer companies need to focus on the fact that the name is easy to spell, is easy to say…”
Kittlaus’ first child turned out to be a boy, so the Siri name went unused… For people.
Kittlaus related how Jobs wasn’t a big fan of the name Siri, and wanted to call the iPhone personal assistant something else. Kittlaus, however, kept lobbying Jobs in favor of the name.
Jobs, failing to find a better name, eventually went with “Siri”.
Kittlaus worked at Apple up until this past October when he decided to leave Apple in Cupertino for Chicago to be close to his family and explore other opportunities.
