Bluetooth is named after a 10th-century Danish king, and its logo is his initials
Harald Gormsson united warring Danish tribes around 970 CE; an Intel engineer thought his nickname fit a protocol meant to unite phones, computers, and headsets.
In 1996, Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia were each working on competing short-range wireless standards. They formed a joint consortium and needed a code name while marketing negotiated a real one. Jim Kardach, the Intel engineer leading the effort, had recently read Frans Bengtsson's historical novel The Long Ships. He proposed "Bluetooth" after Harald "Blåtand" Gormsson, the 10th-century Danish king who had unified Denmark and Norway and brought Christianity to the region — the same way the protocol would unify warring radio standards.
It was supposed to be temporary. Marketing's preferred names were "RadioWire" and "PAN." PAN's trademark search came back ugly. RadioWire was not ready in time for the launch. The code name shipped, and stuck.
The logo is a bind rune of Harald's initials in Younger Futhark: ᚼ (Hagall, H) and ᛒ (Bjarkan, B), overlaid into a single mark. It has been on every Bluetooth-certified device since 1999. Why "Bluetooth" was Harald's nickname is itself uncertain — most likely a dead front tooth that looked dark blue, possibly stained from eating blueberries.
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