Hacker News — AI on Front Page · August 18, 2026 · 3 min read

How does IKEA come up with names for its products?

Mirrored from Hacker News — AI on Front Page for archival readability. Support the source by reading on the original site.

216 pts · 133 comments on Hacker News

Like Read original ↗

How does IKEA come up with names for its products?

The product names of IKEA may sound strange even to us Swedish speakers. In other parts of the world, they are basically incomprehensible, but fun! Here you will learn the most about how we name our products and the two rules that must always be followed – because there is a method in the madness.

Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, had a hard time remembering numbers and numbers, so instead he decided to name his products. Naming products started as a practical solution, but over time it has become an important part of our identity and expression at IKEA.

Our naming method

To ensure consistent use of names

We work purposefully to create a strong and unique identity for IKEA. Everything we do – including naming our products – helps us build and strengthen IKEA as a brand. That's why we follow two simple rules:

We use Swedish names for our products.

The product names reflect our Swedish identity, Småland's heritage and our values. They make IKEA unique and contribute to a sense of playfulness. The names are real words and often inspired by Swedish places, nature, emotions or everyday expressions – and follow a clear categorization system. For instance:

Sofas → Swedish place names

Bookshelves → men's names

Children's products → animals and nature

To be used as a product name, it must:

be a real word
contain between 4 and 12 letters
preferably contain the letters Å, Ä or Ö
feels good to say
Never be trademarked or be a surname

Every possible product name is carefully checked to avoid undesirable meanings in other languages, political or religious affiliations and fit into our global profile.

For everything else, we use descriptive names in the local language of the country in which we operate.

This applies, for example, to services, functions and communication, which must be clear and easy to understand for all customers, regardless of market.

An exception to these two rules are some carefully selected Swedish words (Hello, bye, welcome, welcome back and coffee), they are used to express aspects of the culture and traditions we have at IKEA.

Did you know that we name around 2,000-3,000 new products every year?

Did you find this useful?

Thank you for your feedback!

What particular parts of our articles do you find unsatisfactory or unhelpful?

The text is confusing to understand

The text is not relevant to my question

The text is relevant but not helpful

The text is too long or too short

Thank you for your feedback!

Was the article not helpful? Try one of the related articles below.

IKEA Home Smart is a collective name for our range of smart lighting, Wi-Fi speakers, electric blinds and a range of other products.

All living flowers and plants are named after their Latin name at IKEA. Our artificial flowers and plants are instrad called SMYCKA and FEJKA.

The smart lighting products from IKEA are based on Zigbee light link and Matter, two established standards for wireless control of lighting in the home.

Our children's and baby tableware contains no hazardous substances and is also BPA-free. We do everything we can to ensure that our products do not contain any chemicals that could be hazardous to humans or the environment.

There are many reasons why IKEA iis the place to get your dream kitchen. Here you don't have to worry about having to choose between high quality and great prices. We also offer support from our kitchen specialists to help you go from dream kitchen to reality.

We always recommend that you follow the product's advice and care instructions for both safety and warranty reasons.

Discussion (0)

No comments yet. Sign in and be the first to say something.

How does IKEA come up with names for its products?

Our naming method

To ensure consistent use of names

What particular parts of our articles do you find unsatisfactory or unhelpful?

Discussion (0)

More from Hacker News — AI on Front Page