Etymology of the word Google

The official Google version is that "Google is a play on the word GOOGOL, which was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, Mathematics and the Imagination. It refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google's use of the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web."

So how did 9 (some say 11) year old Milton come up with the name Googol? Edward Kasner in a footnote in Mathematics and the Imagination wrote that "googol" is "not even approximately a Russian author Nikolai Gogol".

There is a WSJ artcile on the subject, it reports that "it's unclear how the words popped into young Milton's head. Caroline Birenbaum, Kasner's great-niece, speculates the coinage may have been inspired by a comic-strip character, Barney Google, who debuted in 1919. She thinks Kasner, who she says liked cartoons, may have tweaked the spelling to avoid any trademark issues - which would mean the name has come full circle."

Caroline Birenbaum is also quoted saying that "Milton and [her father] Edwin worked for their father's business in Brooklyn, grinding apricot pits into an abrasive for industrial purposes�"

I doubt Barney Google was Milton Sirotta�s inspiration. Not insignificant is that the name GOOGOL was coined "close to 1920" while Barney Google cartoon character debuted in 1919 and was not initially a children�s comic strip. But let me ask our Eastern European readers, what does the process of grinding yellow apricot pits (Sirota�s family business) remains you off? Eureka, of course, Gogol Mogol as they pronounced it in Russia or Gugel Mugel as they used to say in Ukraine and Poland. What is Gogol Mogol? To the rescue are the archives of the Mendele: Yiddish literature and language email list. There is a long and fascinating discussion.

Izaly Zemtsovsky of Berkeley, CA writes:
Subject: Guggle-muggle

My family (from Belorussian Jewry, exactly Nevel of Vitebsk region) knows this name as "Gogol-mogol". The main word is "gogol" (like the last name of well-known Russian-Ukrainian writer, by the way) and second one is just a senseless paired rhyme to this word -- like in numerous children's verses and singing games. One has to check this paired word -- just in case -- in the famous Russian dictionary compiled by Vladimir Dal (unfortunately, this valuable book is not on my desk for the moment). The word might be even onomatopoeic. I never heard "guggle-muggle" but this sounds to me onomatopoeic as well. However, let us double check.
Apropos, I myself used to prepare this delicious both remedy and delicacy in my childhood taking two yolks and energetically stirring them up with two table spoons of sugar -- as long as the mass becomes almost white and dense. Enjoy without getting ill!

Now you can imagine how Milton Sirota might have come up with the Googol. And the rest is history as they say. Keep on searching!