Bluetooth Named After a Viking King

In the late 1990s, tech giants like Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia were collaborating to create a single, universal standard for short-range wireless communication. During a 1997 meeting, Intel engineer Jim Kardach suggested the temporary codename "Bluetooth" after reading a historical novel about Vikings (Review). The name was inspired by King Harald Gormsson, a 10th-century ruler famous for uniting the disparate, warring tribes of Denmark and parts of Norway into a single kingdom. The team saw a perfect parallel: just as the king united people, their new technology would unite different communication protocols into one universal standard.

The historical Harald’s unusual nickname is believed to have stemmed from a conspicuous dead or heavily stained tooth, which may have appeared blue or black. While the codename was only intended as a placeholder, the final official candidates for the technology's name, such as "RadioWire," couldn't be trademarked in time (Review) for the launch. As a result, the temporary Viking-inspired name became the permanent one, its story of unification proving too fitting to abandon.

This tribute to the Danish king is immortalized in the technology's iconic logo. It is not an abstract design but a "bind rune," a ligature combining two characters from the ancient Scandinavian runic alphabet. The symbol merges the rune Hagall (ᚼ), which corresponds to the letter 'H', and the rune Bjarkan (ᛒ), for 'B'. These two runes are the initials of Harald Bluetooth, forever linking his legacy of unification with the technology that seamlessly connects our countless modern devices.