Page 1 of 1

Origin of the Minolta name

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:15 pm
by Greg Beetham
An excerpt below from an interesting history of Minolta I stumbled over, the company was founded by Kazuo Tashima in 1928, originally as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shoten (Japan-Germany Camera Company). The name was changed to Minolta in 1933.

"A new model introduced in 1933 first carried the Minolta brand name, a name Tashima created to sound like the Japanese word "minoru-ta," which means ripening rice field. The name reminded Tashima of a proverb his mother frequently used, meaning that the more successful one becomes, the more humble one must be: "The ripest ears of rice bow their heads lowest." The name, however, also has a Western meaning, as an acronym for Machinery and Instruments Optical by Tashima."

You can read a lot more about the Minolta history here. http://companies.jrank.org/pages/2818/M ... o-Ltd.html
Greg

Re: Origin of the Minolta name

Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:10 pm
by KevinBarrett
I heard the man responsible for the "Kodak" name just really liked the letter "k." :D

Re: Origin of the Minolta name

Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:08 pm
by Greg Beetham
Yes that's the way it looks alright, George E. and his Mum just made it up...I've lived all this time and never knew. :)
Greg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Kodak#Kodak_name

Re: Origin of the Minolta name

Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:12 pm
by Dr. Harout
Thanks for the links. Nice reading. :D