Comments for Where Does IKEA Get Its Funny Names?

Where Does IKEA Get Its Funny Names?

2007-07-10T05:56:26Z

We've always wondered where IKEA gets its crazy product names, like the Kramfors sofa and BEST J GRA TV unit with casters. It turns out IKEA actually has funky a system based on names of stuff from its native lands, says ahundredmonkeys.com.

Items for the bathroom like Apskar (a wash basin), Toftbo (a bathroom mat), and Sanni (a bath sheet) are named after Scandanavian lakes, rivers and bays--that seems appropriate.
Stuff for kids is named after mammals, birds, and adjectives. So if you buy your children a Smyg, they're getting a lamp named for a wren. And a child's desk is Fartful, which of course means "speedy" in Swedish.

For the full run-down, Wikipedia has all the answers.

Unraveling the IKEA product naming mystery [a hundred moneys] (Thanks to c-side!)

Comment from macinjosh on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T21:45:11Z

@LatherRinseRepeat: Yeah, they named it Spankker. :D

Comment from ord2fra on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T20:38:05Z

My wife and I were shocked to see the name we had picked out for our son used for the JERKER replacement. We kept the name though, and hopefully IKEA will replace that by the time he goes to school...

Comment from skittlbrau on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T18:48:15Z

when i was in school in denmark we took a fieldtrip to the IKEA headquarters in Sweden. we were told then for a long time the wife of IKEAs founder made up the name of almost every product. Not sure if that's still in place, but it does explain the excessive use of swedish words.

On an unrelated note, I love the IKEA swedish meatballs in their cafeteria. Oh, and the saltly licorice.

Comment from Bobg on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T18:39:58Z

Check out the following site on who owns IKEA. No one owns it. It has the most convoluted corporate structure I've ever seen. One foundation after another (no taxes.)

[www.economist.com]

Comment from V-effekt on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T17:05:26Z

The children's bed named Gutvik was pulled from Germany, where it sounds a lot like Gut-Fick, a "good F&%k." No M.Jackson joke needed here.

Comment from Uriel on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T15:13:36Z

Crazy Swedes, they're FAR too French for me!

Comment from LatherRinseRepeat on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T09:23:37Z

I think Ikea discontinued the Jerker computer desk. They made some changes to the design and renamed it to something else.

Comment from uricmu on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T08:24:40Z

I think that several years ago, Mad Magazine had a feature called "Ikea furniture name OR exotic disease".

Comment from not_seth_brundle on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T07:16:37Z

@superlayne: No more so than laughing at runners for doing a fartlek ("speed play") workout.

Comment from WannaGetMatzoBalled on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T07:15:30Z

If I sit too long at a desk, I get fartful myself.....
(how unfeminine a comment..but take a look at Jezebel and it's really rather tame :) )

Comment from DHock on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T06:52:36Z

@shadowfire: come on, do we really think that encouraging a different meaning for fartful will really help your children in school?

more likely it'll help them want to move to Sweden to avoid being tortured.

Comment from Shadowfire on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T06:33:32Z

@superlayne: Tell your kids that's what it means... maybe it'll make them study more.

Comment from legotech on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T06:32:19Z

@superlayne: At least you just laughed, when I first saw it I submitted it to Jay Leno for Headlines :)

reg

Comment from superlayne on 2007-07-10

2007-07-10T06:20:31Z

...Is it immature of me to laugh at Fartful?