People Left Stunned After Discovering What LEGO Actually Stands For

By Khadija Pervez in Interesting On 6th August 2024
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If you haven't heard the story behind the name LEGO, get ready to learn something new.

Even if you've spent countless hours, days, or maybe even years buying, building, and playing with those iconic plastic bricks, have you ever wondered what LEGO actually stands for?

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Get ready to dive into one of those late-night, deep conversations you might have at the end of a party, when you're pondering life's big questions.

According to LEGO's website, the company didn’t start with the famous plastic brick sets we know today.

In fact, it began with "wooden toys such as cars, airplanes and yoyo's."

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During the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the world was hit by a severe economic downturn. 

This global crisis led to tough times for carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen, whose carpentry and joinery business was struggling.

Forced to get creative, Kristiansen started making "new easy saleable products" like ladders, ironing boards, and other everyday items.

But in 1932, Kristiansen also began making wooden toys.

Do you actually know what LEGO means? Volha Shukaila/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

By late 1935, he chose to concentrate even more on toy production and decided it was time to come up with a new name for his company.

LEGO's website shares: "Kristiansen allegedly holds a competition among his employees to find a good name for the business.

The competition winner (who can claim the prize of a bottle of Ole Kirk Kristiansen’s home-made wine) is ... Ole Kirk Kristiansen himself."

Kristiansen settled on the two Danish words "LEG GODT," which translates to "Play Well," and this new name was "officially used" starting January 1936.

"The intention of the name is to reflect quality and children´s right to enjoyable play," LEGO's site further explains.

LEGO's name was based off the Danish words for 'Play well' Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

Looking back on his choice to shift focus to toy production, Kristiansen wrote in a letter:

"It wasn’t until the day I told myself, 'You’ll either have to drop your old craft or put toys out of your head' that I began to see the long-term consequences."

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"And the decision turned out to be the right one."

It hasn’t taken long for people to share their thoughts on social media about the history and meaning behind the LEGO name.

One Twitter user remarked: "That is interesting," while another added: "Fun with linguistics."

A third joked: "I thought it meant foot killer."

"I thought it meant 'painful at 2am,'" a fourth user said.

A fifth wrote: "Very cool."

And a final comment read: "Synonym: floor weapon. Painful when stepped on."