Have you ever wondered why your wireless headphones, car speaker, or game controller all use something called “Bluetooth”?
It sounds more like a dental problem than a high-tech solution — but the name actually comes from a real Viking king.
📜 The Short Version:
Bluetooth is named after Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson, a 10th-century Danish king known for uniting warring tribes in what is now Denmark and Norway — kind of like how this technology unites devices that wouldn’t normally talk to each other.
🤔 But Why Name a Wireless Standard After a Viking?
In the 1990s, tech companies like Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia were working on a universal short-range wireless communication system. They needed a code name while developing it — something memorable but internal.
A developer from Intel, Jim Kardach, had just read a book about Viking history and suggested “Bluetooth,” because King Harald had united different kingdoms, just like they were trying to unite different communication protocols.
It stuck.
🔵 Even the Logo Is a Viking Throwback
That weird-looking Bluetooth symbol? It’s actually a bind rune — a combination of two Norse runes:
- ᚼ = “H” for Harald
- ᛒ = “B” for Bluetooth
Put them together, and you get the logo. That’s right — the icon on your earbuds is secretly 1,000 years old.
💡 The Real Fun Fact:
Bluetooth was meant to be a temporary code name. The team planned to give it a more “professional” name later — but they couldn’t agree on one in time for launch. So “Bluetooth” went public.
In other words: the Viking stuck because the nerds couldn’t pick a better name.
🧠 TL;DR:
- Bluetooth is named after a Viking king who united Denmark and Norway.
- the made the logo from his initials — in runes.
- It was supposed to be temporary, but nobody changed it.