Bluetooth Logo

Claire posed an interesting technical question last night, which I couldn't honestly answer. Why is the bluetooth technology named just so? Good question - there is nothing blue about the technology, like there is red in infrared and there are certainly no teeth involved.

As I use the technology myself, I thought I'd best look it up. So this morning, I did just that and turned to my trusty friend - WikiPedia. It had the following to say (link):

The system is named after a Danish king Harald Blåtand (Harold Bluetooth in English), King of Denmark and Norway from 935 and 936 respectively, to 940 known for his unification of previously warring tribes from Denmark (including Skåne, present-day Sweden, where the Bluetooth technology was invented) and Norway. Bluetooth likewise was intended to unify different technologies like computers and mobile phones. The Bluetooth logo merges the Nordic runes analogous to the modern Latin H and B. This is the official story; however, the actual Harald Blåtand that was referred to in naming Bluetooth was most probably the liberal interpretation given to him in The Long Ships by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson, a Swedish best-selling Viking-inspired novel.

And now we know.