The Story Behind the Bronto Name
Often when I talk about the company to a group of people, I inevitably get the questions: Why Bronto? What’s the story behind the name? Sometime ago one of our prospects emailed me the same question. To settle some of the curiosity out there, I thought that it would be helpful to share my email response below.
Fortunately, the situation for bronto named dinosaurs has improved since my email response. Making up for the Brontosaurus being discredited, a palentologist discovered a new dinosaur and, earlier this year, applied the bronto moniker to it. Brontomerus. The name means “Thunder Thigh” in Greek. Hilarious! Also love how the Brontomerus is kicking butt in its wikipedia pictures. Awesome!
Paleontologist Mike Taylor, we salute you!
Hi Eliana –
I am the founder and CEO of Bronto Software so I can provide some insight into the name Bronto. I named the company after my childhood love for dinosaurs while bootstrapping the company out of my spare bedroom many years ago. As a 7 year old, I loved dinosaurs, in particular the Brontosaurus, so when given the chance to name my own company, I couldn’t resist.
Yes … it is true that in many ways bronto is not the ideal name for a technology company. Brontosaurus is an extinct, plant eating animal that supposedly had the brain the size of a pea. And, in most drawings, it is often on the verge of being eaten by a T-Rex. Also, the Brontosaurus is mislabeled. It didn’t exist and was later re-categorized as a different dinosaur. In the race for discovery, a paleontologist had the wrong head on it and erroneously labeled it as a brontosaurus … which my 9 year old niece told me (to my surprise) a few years after starting the company. Read this article.
Despite all this, Bronto is really a great name and embodies our humility in humanizing technology and software. We are committed to making our customers better marketers and have embraced this simple principle throughout our product and service. The paradox of having a name like Bronto keeps us approachable and real. So, hopefully you’ll have a chance to see what Bronto makes different and why we embrace its name and ideals. Plus, the name gives us the opportunity to take lots of brontosaurus pictures in interesting places.
Hope that helps clarify your question.
Cheers, Joe